Reunion
by Santiva Potter
Summary: For the last ten years, Mikaela Banes has been running from her past. But when she finally finds enough courage to turn back, she gets a reunion of a life time. Sam/Mikaela
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

As the elevator slowly clicked up to the top floor, Keiara Reid waited with an unprecedented amount of patience, for the ancient tool to reach her floor. When the doors opened, Reid walked past the marble archway that welcomed everyone to Reid Realty. Near the front of the office space was a large mahogany desk, where Cristella Madsen, Reid's secretary took incoming phone calls.

"Yes—she just walked in," Cristella explained over the phone. Keiara stopped and raised a gentle eye brow. Cristella put the person on hold before explaining, "It's the military guy, again. They want to know if they can meet with you about some property they're interested in."

"What time?" Keiara asked. This person had been calling for a week now; she might as well simply face the music.

"Is now a good time?"

"Humor me."

"It seems Mrs. Reid does have an opening…" Cristella answered returning back to the phone.

Keiara Reid continued to the back of the floor where her office was. Pushing the large wooden oak door open, then closed again, she sighed in relief. She was happy most of her time was not spent in the hectic from of the office and she was left to peace and tranquility either searching homes around Phoenix or in her office.

Tranquility.

Smiling softly she passed the awards that were aligned on the back shelf of her office congratulating her for being the most prominent African-American woman in real estate, or for her aid with the community. Instead she went right to the pictures on her desk. The first was a picture of herself, her husband and their two children, who were only four. On the opposite side of the desk was another picture frame that held two photos. The older one was of herself and her best friend Mikaela Banes, back in high school in Tranquility, California. Both girls were leaning against an old tree by the park, enjoying the sunny day. The picture below that one was a more up to date photo of the two of them. And while nether looked particularly somber, it was evident how time had changed Mikaela. The joyous smile that enlightened their high school photo was now gone and replaced by a small smile that hid so many secrets and thoughts that Keiara didn't know where to begin.

It had been this month three years ago, when she finally came across Mikaela walking down a dirt road 30 miles outside of Phoenix. She was alone, just being dumped and kicked out by another one of her boyfriends and had nowhere to go. Jokingly she had to Keiara that she was going to walk back to Tranquility to see if her Grandmother Abby had any more room in the shitty apartment they had once shared. But the strained humor told a different tale, darker than the sugar coating that she was trying to play off. Mikaela was hurting.

The door to Keiara's office swung open and in entered not the military man she had expected, but a small framed caramel woman. Her hair was tightly spun into a bun and she wore square framed glasses in front of her gentle eyes. Her suit was clean cut and sharp, making Keiara silently wish that the woman had not come on Friday, the day where Keiara's propriety threw itself out of the window.

Gathering up the last of her accordance, Keiara shook the woman's hand and offered her a seat.

"So how may I help you Mrs.…?"

"Ms. Davis. My name is Joan Davis. I am the personal assistant from Mr. Samuel Witwicky."

Keiara's had turned sharply at the name. "Witwicky?"

"Yes, he's the owner of the Transformer toys and also happens to work for the United States Armed Forces," Ms. Davis informed politely.

"Huh," Keiara said, "that's an interesting last name. It sounds oddly familiar, but excuse me what exactly does Mr. Witwicky want with my services?"

"He's looking for some new property. The Air Force is asking for his services in this area and he felt it necessary to find a permanent residence. He also would like to be closer to his home."

"He lived in Arizona?"

"No, California. But Arizona is much closer than Virginia."

"California, really? That's my home state. Okay so, what exactly is Mr. Witwicky looking for in a home?"

"Just a place not too far from the city but not too close," Ms. Davis explained handing over a manila folder. "He would like to have his privacy and needs close proximity to the Air Force base, right outside of town."

"Right, Luke Air Force," Keiara responded looking through the papers. "Well I'm sure that all Mr. Witwicky's needs can be met."

"Excellent," Ms. Davis smiled standing up. "Any price will do, just call the number inside of the folder and I'm sure that Mr. Witwicky will be sure to take it."

Keiara nodded leaning back in her chair. The corner of her eye caught the picture of her and Mikaela again.

Witwicky.

"Sam!" Keiara remembered. "Sam Witwicky! He graduated from Tranquility High Class of 2008."

"Yes, that would be him," Ms. Davis confirmed raising an eyebrow.

"Sorry, he was a classmate of mine. I knew the name sounded familiar."

Keiara smiled and looked back down of the picture of her and Mikaela. They had been at the park for Sam's birthday party.

"Well, I must get going," Ms. Davis explained. "Call us if there are any issues."

"Of course. And if you don't mind me asking, when will Sam be in the area?" Keiara asked. After all at had been ten years of a broken Mikaela. Ten years of deep depression and secrets that Keiara felt weak in trying to protect her friend. Ten years since Sam and Mikaela had seen each other.

"Well, that naturally depends on how long it will take for you to find a piece of property that interests him, Mrs. Reid," Ms. Davis answered before making her way out of Keiara's office.

_Trust me, Ms. Davis that won't take very long at all, _Keiara thought to herself picking up the old picture. _Won't take very long at all. _


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_**One month later**_

The sandy dusts of Arizona whipped the old Ford truck hard, but with the repairs that had recently been made, even the harsh sand winds could not penetrate the truck and its driver. The truck chugged down the dusty road to where its destination stood stranded next to his own car. According to Mitch, the client's name was Frank Howe. He was a business man visiting the local area, and it seemed that his car did not take well to the Arizona heat.

Mikaela parked her tow truck in front of the client's car and slowly hopped out. For the Arizona heat she was dressed in a white wife beater with baggy light weighted pants connected to a pair of suspenders. Her hair was pilled loosely on her head and her face was marred with dirt and sand from working earlier. She would have thought that this would be enough for a man to find her unsatisfying. She was sadly mistaken.

The client Frank Howe looked past her slightly gruff appearance and was taken by the way her curves were plainly seen even with the baggy pants. He was taken by the curve of her breast and the fullness of her lips. Hell, he was taken by the smell of her. All he wanted was this sexy mechanic, whom he believed was sent straight from heaven.

"So what seems to be the problem here?" Mikaela asked, trying to avoid the man's lusty stares.

"I'm not really sure," Howe responded his eyes mapping out Mikaela. "It just broke down."

"You didn't hear any odd noises, prior to that?"

The man shook his head, too occupied to speak verbally.

"Just pop the hood," Mikaela snapped, her patience already running thin with this man. It seemed that it would be another one of _**those**_ days; days where she wished she had just called in sick, because she already knew where this was going to end.

"Only if you let me pop yours. Hood for a hood," the man suggested.

Mikaela took a deep breath before glaring at the customer. "Let me make this very simple for you. Drop the jokes before your engine isn't the only thing you lose."

"No need to get upset," Howe tried again advancing towards Mikaela. "I just want to…"

His hand was reaching towards the Danger Zone, before Mikaela grabbed him by the head and Frank Howe's world went black.

Mitch Thomas, one of Mikaela's three bosses, was waiting for her when she returned an hour later to the shop.

"You wouldn't believe the call I just got," he growled.

"I would," Mikaela snapped. "It's called sexual harassment."

"Well did you at least get the sucker's money _before _you knocked him out?"

"Mitch!"

"Don't Mitch me, Mikaela this is the third time this has happened this week! It seems like every time I send you out, you come back with a misdemeanor!"

"That's not true," Mikaela growled. The pair stood at the opening of the garage glaring at each other for a moment before Mitch relaxed.

"I know, kid. I'm sorry. It's just you know Miles and George are going to have a field day when they hear about this. And with the economy like it is, Micky you know that we need that money."

"So what do you want me to do?" Mikaela snapped. "Act like some slut and let grown men just grope all over me when they feel like it?"

Mitch sighed loudly. "Just let me talk with George and Miles. We'll figure this thing out. For now, just stay in the garage, will you?"

He didn't need to ask twice. Mikaela hated leaving the garage. At least here she knew all the guys. She knew their likes, dislikes, weakness, and most importantly their wives. They would never try something stupid with her, not like Frank Howe and his predecessors.

Mikaela moved to the back of the garage where her latest project stood waiting for her attention. She turned on the fan and found her gloves, ready to put her attention into something meaningful, when she heard the loud whispers of her bosses from the other room. Crouching slowly she pressed her ear to the crack in the door where she could clearly hear her three bosses—who were more like the Three Stooges—arguing, arguing specifically about her.

"I think it's time we got rid of her!" George's deep voice argued cutting over Mitch.

"I agree," Miles said. "I mean, how much money have we lost in the last week because of her?"

"Now that's not fair George, Miles. It's not like she's lying about these attacks."

"It's not an attack, Mitch," George argued. "So what a man wants to look at her! Mikaela is a beautiful woman. But she has one hell of an attitude."

"Okay, yes she's got a temper. But really George, wouldn't you be pissed if someone was trying to look up Marcella's skirt?"

"Alright Mitch, yeah, she's right for defending herself, but it's the way she does it that gets us in trouble," Miles argued. "Beating a guy with a bat, knocking him out with her fist, a sledge hammer? How are these cats even living after these attacks? The girl is crazy!"

"So she has a little anger management issues," Mitch said. "She just needs therapist."

"Yeah Mitch and who's going to pay for that?" George snapped. Mitch was quiet.

"Exactly," Miles said, "we don't have the money to pay for it. Look, maybe when we get some more money in the bank then maybe we can afford to have Mikaela and her temper, but right now they're both running a whole in our pockets."

"So you want to just fire her then?" Mitch responded. "You do realize that she could go to a lawyer and sue us? And her friend, the chick that always picks her up, her friend's husband is that hotshot lawyer from California. He would eat us alive!"

"Mick's not going to go to no lawyer," George laughed. "She doesn't have it in her to hurt us, because she knows that'll be hurting you. Look, Mitch I know you care for the girl, but honestly what do you want us to do?"

"Keep her!"

"You can forget it," Mikaela snapped, shoving the door open. She had heard enough of their chatter. She knew all too well, when she wasn't wanted. She took her gloves off and roughly threw them at George and Miles before stalking out of the garage.

"Mikaela! Mikaela! Wait!" Mitch called from behind her. She paid him mind, either and continued down the Phoenix roads.

About an hour later, Mikaela was laying across the couch with ice packs on her feet. She was in the small home that belonged to her best friend Keiara Reid, who so graciously allowed her to stay with her husband and their two kids as long as she could play babysitter at the drop of a hat. But since that meant food and a place to stay, Mikaela took it willingly. The front door opened and the home was filled with the cries of children as James and Alice raced through to their bedrooms.

"Stop running!" the bass voice of Jonathan Reid called. He later appeared in the living room where Mikaela was. He dropped his briefcase and came by the couch.

"What happened Mick?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the couch. "I went by the garage but they said you had already left. Don't tell me you walked here!"

Mikaela grimaced slightly.

John shook his head and got up again, "I'll get you some more ice."

When he returned from the kitchen, John asked, "What happened?"

Mikaela lightly summarized the earlier tale. Mikaela's harassment was nothing new to Jonathan's ears, but when he heard about George and Miles his face turned considerably darker.

"They're right y'know," John growled. "I _**can **_sue their asses."

Mikaela chuckled, "Maybe."

A cry shot out from the back room and John sighed.

"Let me go see what that is about. I'll be right back."

For a moment the house was rather peaceful, save whichever one of the twins were being reprimanded. The ringing of the house phone interrupted that peace as it wailed almost as loudly as the twins.

"Hi you've reached the Reid Residence and Mikaela Banes," the answer machine said. "Sorry, we missed your call. If you could leave your name, number, message and who you're trying to reach, then we will be able to get back with you at our earliest connivance. Have a Blessed Day!"

"Hello, Mrs. Reid, this is Cristella Madsen from the office. Ms. Davis just stopped in. Apparently, Mr. Witwicky will be in the Phoenix area sooner than expected and he and his partner wants to see the house that you've found for them. And that they are very interested in meeting you and your friend. She says that the number to contact her is in the manila folder and asks that you call her as soon as possible—"

"Hello?" John asked returning to the kitchen and picking up the phone. "Sure, sure—Yes, I'll make sure Keiara gets the message. Alright, you too—uh huh, good-bye."

Mikaela's body seemed to slip into shock. She couldn't think, she could barely breathe. The only thing that was on her mind was that name.

There was no way that Cristella had been referring to _**that **_Witwicky. There are tons of Witwicky's in America. And she never said his name was Sam. Besides even if itwas Sam, he has a partner. He has a girlfriend and they're going to be living in a house—together. Mikaela's heart began to ache at the thought of Sam, her Sam living with someone else. She could see the grin that would be plastered on his face, the arm that would be wrapped around someone else. She could see him giving her small little kisses down her neck, kisses that he used to give her, kisses that used to drive her mad with want.

Mikaela grimaced trying to get the images out of her head. New ones began to flow. Ones that she never wanted to look back on. The day she had left Sam. How she had lied to him as he lay there weak in the hospital, with his eyes barely opening. He had begged her not to leave him. His surgery was just hours away, and his chances of life weren't very good. She had told him that she would be right back. She was just going to go by her grandmother's house, because her Grandma Abby had been worried about her. She was going to be right back. She would come back and hold his hand through the whole process. She would never leave him.

It couldn't be that Sam Witwicky. She didn't even know if that Sam Witwicky was alive. For all she knew, he could be dead, rotting at the bottom of some cemetery in California.

A sob chocked Mikaela as her mind became a vivid screen for Sam's funeral. Her body sunk deep into the couch as she clutched herself, trying to will the pieces back together.

"Mikaela?" John asked rushing over to her, bringing her into his chest. "Mikaela, sweet heart what's wrong? Is it George and Miles? Mick, we'll get them, I promise."

Mikaela continued to sob until the front door clicked open again. Keiara was home.

At that thought a fire rapidly spread through Mikaela's veins. Keiara had to have known that Sam was coming to Arizona.

"_And that they are very interested in meeting you and your friend."_

That scheming little girl!

Furiously, Mikaela tore from John's embrace and headed towards the back where her room was. Behind her she could hear John's questioning and Keiara's confusion as she cursorily packed her things. Throwing the duffel bag over her shoulders Mikaela slammed the door to her room shut and passed by her innocent on-looking god children.

"Mikaela, what the hell?" Keiara demanded. She was standing in the foyer, her hands on her hips, keys still in her hands.

Mikaela glared at her friend for a moment before responding, "Cristella, from the office, called."

And with that Mikaela walked out of her friend's house and into the dying Arizona sun.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The fifty dollars that had been in her wallet was just barely enough to take her to Forman's Garage. Forman was Mitch's old mentor, who had a knack of taking up runaways. After storming out of Keiara's, Mikaela swung by the old garage to pick up her last paycheck, where Mitch begged her to stick around, but she refused. She needed out of Phoenix. Forman's was only temporary. She'd go back, once she was sure that whoever that Witwicky person was gone. She wasn't interested in having old demons haunt her.

But of course, the show had already started.

Since leaving Keiara's, Mikaela hadn't had a single ounce of sleep, as she was too tormented by old memories and broken promises to fall into slumber. Her heart ached painfully through the night as she thought of her grandmother, her father and Sam. She thought of the Autobots, Bee, Ironhide, Ratchet and Prime. She thought about Lennox, and his cute baby girl. She had to be ten by now. She remembered the picnic that she and Sam had been invited to on the Lennox's property. She remembered how Epps had teased him and Ironhide about the boys that would be in little Anna's future.

"_Even if that is true," Ironhide grumbled. "I've got my cannons waiting for them." _

During the day, Forman allowed Mikaela to work in peace. They didn't get a lot of traffic being alone in the desert, and because of that and his Forman's hospitality, Mikaela worked extra hard on her temper when a customer and his roaming eyes would appear. Although, Forman's wife Lucille did not take well to those specific customers either.

"Absolute scoundrels," she snapped one afternoon as she served lunch. "They act as if no one has taught them manners!"

Mikaela chuckled softly as the garage phone range.

"Mick!" Forman called from the garage. "It's for you! Someone named John!"

Mikaela froze.

If she was being honest with herself, she hadn't expected it to take John too long before he would find her. Before he was a lawyer, John went into training as a private investigator, and with the connections he had now, it would almost be too easy.

Lucille didn't leave her much of a choice either. She quickly grabbed the phone that was in the kitchen and put it in Mikaela's hands.

"That took longer than I expected" Mikaela teased lightly.

"I figured I'd give you a break," John responded. She noticed there was little humor in his voice. "Listen, I need you to come back in town."

"No, John. I'm not coming back to see Sam."

"Sam's not here," John interrupted. "And besides, you owe me and Keiara. She was just trying to help."

"I don't need her help!"

"Oh really?" John challenged.

The silence between them grew longer as stubbornness tried to rule over her guilt.

"Fine," she replied. "But if Sam's not there, who is?"

Mikaela arrived back in Phoenix as the sun was setting, and it was near dark by the time she reached the empty park only a couple streets behind Keiara's house. She parked the truck she had borrowed from Forman and walked past the swings to the "hill top" a small plateau above the picnic area.

On the hill top sat a familiar bright yellow Camaro that was laminated by the moonlight. Mikaela noticed that someone was leaning against the Camaro's passenger seat door, and that someone was not a male.

"Who are you?" Mikaela asked.

"Joan Davis," the woman responded, "Sam Witwicky's personal assistant."

In the darkness, Mikaela could tell that the woman was stunningly beautiful and that she wore frown just for her. Despite her upset look, Joan leaned away from Bee and came to Mikaela offering her hand.

"You know?" Mikaela asked shaking her hand as the Camaro transformed into Bumblebee.

"I am his _personal _assistant."

Mikaela held back her grimace. She had to be the partner that Cristella had referred to.

Turning her attention from the woman she walked towards Bee. He hadn't changed much in her opinion. He was visibly stronger and she could detect stubble upgrades that had been made over the years, but overall he was still the old friend that she had once known, the old friend that she had left behind.

"Hey Bee," Mikaela greeted softly, unsure how the Autobot would receive her.

Bee was silent for a moment before replying, "Hello Mikaela."

He lapsed back into his silence, simply looking at her, like he was trying to solve a complicated problem. Yet then again, she could see why he would need to do that too.

"You're angry," Mikaela said, directing her statement towards Sam's assistant.

Joan Davis sighed loudly before responding, "I've worked with Mr. Witwicky for some time now, and…he was rather excited to come to Arizona. Let just say, I don't enjoy being the bearer of bad news."

Mikaela bit her tongue as the message cut bluntly into her heart. Sam had been waiting to see her.

"Where is he now?"

"At the airport," Bumblebee responded. "He refused to come. He said he knew that you wouldn't show if he was here."

Mikaela nodded slowly, finding a sudden interest in the ground below her. At least it wasn't glaring at her, or expecting to see her or trying to solve her like a puzzle.

"Is there something you wanted Bee?" Mikaela asked after another moment of uncomfortable silence.

"Yes," the spy replied. "Are you happy?"

"What?" Mikaela asked, caught off guard.

"Are you happy? Are you happy without Sam? Without the rest of us? Have you found happiness in Phoenix?"

"I-I…it's not like I'm by myself Bee. I have Keiara."

"But she told Joan that you walked out last week. Are you happy Mikaela?"

Mikaela bit her tongue. She knew where this was leading.

"It's not like I'll be happy back at the base with Sam, Bee," Mikaela responded.

"I never said that. Besides, what makes you think that you wouldn't?"

"I-I can't go back. I just…can't."

Bee bent down, so that they were eye to eye not breaking her gaze.

"Whether you want to believe it or not, Mikaela, he makes you happy. You make him happy. And as his guardian I am obliged to make sure that the things that make him happy are in his life. But I can't force you to come back. I won't, not even if Prime commanded it. But as Sam's guardian, I have to protect the things that make him happy, including you. We both want your happiness Mikaela. So before Ironhide kidnappes you back to Virginia answer me this: Are you happy?"

Mikaela held Bumblebee's gaze until gravity pulled her eyes back down and her traitor tears began to fall.

Bee lifted himself back up and opened up his chest to the heavens, the Autobot emblem shining brightly in the night.

"Bee what are you doing?" Mikaela asked wiping her tears. The robot did not verbally respond, but instead quickly transformed back into his Camaro mode. Joan, who had silently left the hill top, now reappeared and headed back towards the driver's seat.

"It was nice meeting you Ms. Banes," Joan said, even though the look on her face did not particularly agree with that statement.

"You too," Mikaela responded softly. "And Bee…"

"Yes?" the Camaro responded, not bothering to use the radio.

"Tell Sam…tell Sam….next time."

Although Bee did not verbally respond, she knew he had gotten the message as the yellow Camaro drove off of the hill top, out of the park and to the roads below. Mikaela watched as they drove off together and let her tears begin their descent.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing of Transformers.

I think this is the last double feature I'll do. I'd like to give myself some room to write something in advance before I post it. And please review!

* * *

Chapter 4

The dusty roads always made the ride home longer than necessary. Two months had passed since she had seen Bumblebee and Sam's assistant Joan Davis and Mikaela had made little progress. On the bright side, she had forgiven Keiara for the "set-up-to-be" but she did not move back into the Reid Residence. Instead she continued to work for Forman and bought a small apartment only a couple of miles from his shop.

Bee's words only added to the tossing at night. The idea that Sam had wanted to see her only deepened her guilt and made her want to curl into a ball. She had never felt so alone at night, as she did now. At least before there was always someone—even if that someone was an asshole boyfriend, he too was better than no one.

When Mikaela arrived at her apartment late that night, there was a small envelope sticking out of her door. Her name was written in Keiara's cursive, but with no address.

Mikaela took the letter in with her and opened it up.

_John is of the opinion that I should apologize, _the letter read, _but what should I apologize for? Babying you too much? Letting you stay too long? Shielding you from other guys since Carter the prick left you on the Arizona highway? I can truthfully say sorry for those things. I will not say sorry for trying to set you up with Sam. And you know why. You know that when you were with Sam, you were so happy. There was so much life in you, even though your dad had just gotten parole and you were worried about how he would fit into your life, Sam never let you worry about that. We used to laugh at how hard Sam tried to make your dad like him. It was hilarious! Remember? Mick, I wanted you to see Sam, because I wanted to know—no, I wanted you to know if walking out on Sam those years ago, was the right thing or not. I won't pretend I know what exactly happened between you too, (because I don't by that BS that you simply had an argument. And neither does John) but I can say that I know that the high school Mikaela with Sam Witwicky was a lot happier than the grown Mikaela without Sam Witwicky. Just give it a chance, Mick. You never know. _

_Much Love,_

_Keiara_

By the time Mikaela had reached the end of the letter the paper had begun to shake in her hands. Another slip of paper fell out, which Mikaela found to be another short note by Keiara.

_P.S. You're getting an all expenses paid pass to second chances. Don't screw it up AND I expect both of you from Christmas Dinner! _

_-K_

Mikaela peered back into the envelope to see a plane ticket and a rental car receipt. The rental car was here in Phoenix, but the plane ticket was out of Fresno, California to Ronald Regan Airport in Virginia. Mikaela moaned remembering that Fresno was the closest airport to Tranquility.

Dropping all the items in her hand, she stepped away from the foyer where she had been reading the letters. She was not going to do this. There was no reason. Why would she want to go back to Sam? That would mean going back to the Autobots, going back to the past, to the hospital…

"_Stop shitting with me and tell me what's wrong with him!" Mikaela screamed. _

_The doctor gave her a wary look. They were all tired. They had been at the hospital longer than anyone had suspected. And a bad sign could easily been read from the stress. _

"_It's the radiation," the doctor responded softly. "He's not electronic, so the radiation that has been building off of his body is now using it as a food source."_

"_Are you trying to say it's going to eat him alive, Doc?" Epps asked. _

_The doctor's grim look deepened as he eyed Mikaela again._

Mikaela had somehow pushed herself against one of the walls in her apartment, crying hysterically. She banged her head against the cemented walls trying to coerce the images and memories from her mind. She didn't want to relive that again. She couldn't relive that again. Once had brought more than enough pain.

As the tears began to blur her vision, one object that sat on a mantle across the hall abruptly stood out. It was a picture in a picture frame. When she moved into the tiny apartment, Keiara had come down to help and must have put this picture up while Mikaela hadn't been looking. Because Mikaela would **never** put up a picture of her and Sam—especially not in a frame that had "forgiveness" embedded on it. Grabbing the frame, she threw it against the wall and glass exploded everywhere on the floor.

The burst of energy was like a quick high and Mikaela found herself in the need of more. Soon lamps and vases joined the picture on the wooden floor. Other pictures added to the pile until her entire apartment was ruined. Nearly satisfied, Mikaela quickly found the first photo and was ready to rip it in half when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw writing on the back of it.

_I get that it's a lot harder to forgive yourself over someone else. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't do it. _

Mikaela slowed her breathing and turned the photo back over. It was another photo from Sam's birthday party by the lake. They were leaning against Bumblebee and Sam had his arm wrapped around Mikaela, who was snuggled comfortably in his embrace laughing.

She had been happy.

He had been happy.

They had both been just so…happy.

Without thinking or contemplating Mikaela began to pack random shirts and pants into a duffel bag. She quickly scrambled an apology letter to Lucille and Forman, promising to be back soon and grabbed her cell phone and her phone charger. It was a nine hour ride from Phoenix to Fresno International, and Mikaela planned on giving Keiara another piece of her mind about her scheming techniques.

Tranquility, California like many things didn't seem to change much in Mikaela's opinion. Everything was still in its same place and even as she drove down the street in another rental car, she saw the faces of old high school classmates and old teachers and neighbors. No, Tranquility hadn't changed one bit.

When she spoke with Keiara over the phone (who naturally had been overjoyed to hear where she was going), her friend told her that she didn't exactly know where Sam was stationed in Virginia, which is why she simply to Tranquility first. They could call Sam's personal assistant, but both women had ruled her out a long time ago, agreeing that she did not exactly have Mikaela in high interests.

So naturally the only place that Mikaela could start was the Witwicky household.

"I don't know about this," Mikaela moaned as she drove through her home town.

"What? Why?" Keiara asked over the phone.

"I haven't seen Judy and Ron since...well since I've seen…"

"Oh. You're worried how they might react," Keiara reasoned.

"I mean…I just don't know. What if…"

"Okay, no what ifs, Mick. Look, I feel for you I do. I didn't think about that and I'm sorry. However, you can't change the past. You left. And not only did you leave, you ran away. You're going to have to face the past at some point. You can't just let it haunt you forever."

"Yeah, I hear you. Alright let me go. I'm pulling on Sam's street now."

From the phone book, Mikaela discovered that that Witwicky's never left their old address in Tranquility and that it was still their main residence. Parking her rental on the sidewalk, Mikaela slowly emerged from the car. The garage door wasn't open and there was no yellow Camaro parked out front, which confirmed that Sam was somewhere in Virginia. Although in front of the house, on the side walk was another vehicle that Mikaela didn't recognize.

Ringing her hands together, Mikaela slowly made her way to the front door.

_You can do this. It's just Judy and Ron. They love you….Well, they __**did.**_

But before she could reach the door bell the front door swung open and long, skinny, pale face appeared that she hadn't seen in years.

"Mikaela?" Miles asked. "Is that really you?"

Mikaela stood in shock for a moment and silently nodded. Sam's old high school friend was the last person she expected to run into.

"What are you doing back in Tranquility? I thought you would bail out like Sam did?" Miles asked.

"Um, it's a long story. Are Judy and Ron home, Miles?"

"Who? Oh, no, they're taking an extended weekend on some resort in San Deigo. They asked that I just come by and get their mail and stuff, till they come back. You want to come in?"

"Sure."

The inside of the Witwicky home had obviously gone through some refurnishing, but it still maintained the homey feeling that Mikaela had once loved. There something about this place that she always felt safe and happy. It was home to her.

"So what exactly brings you back to Tranquility?" Miles asked, leading her into the kitchen. "Sam's going to flip when he hears this! He was just here y'know?"

"Yeah, it's actually about Sam. I'm looking for him."

"Really?" Miles asked grabbing a drink and offering her one. "Why would you start here? Sam hasn't lived here since high school," Miles continued.

"Yeah, I know. He works for the military now."

"And he's got those kick ass toys."

"Toys?" Mikaela inquired.

"Yeah, he founded and designed these robot toys. They're a huge hit with the kids. Robot toys that turn into cars, who would have thought of that?"

Mikaela bit back a laugh. Sam couldn't be any more _un_original.

"And what does he call them?" she asked desperately trying not to smirk.

"Well the good guys are Autobots—"

Mikaela nearly choked on her soda.

"Sorry, went down the wrong pipe," she lied. "Continue."

"—yeah and the bad guys are Deceptions. He calls the Transformers: Robots in Disguise."

Mikaela nodded fighting the urge to roll her eyes and laugh.

"They're a huge hit. He's got a headquarters in Arlington not too far from his office by the pentagon.

"Wait what? Where did you say his military office was?"

"It's about ten or so blocks from the Pentagon and about another five blocks down is his toy company Hasbro."

"So Sam's in Arlington," Mikaela confirmed.

"Most likely," Miles responded. "I mean he might be shipped off. He goes places from time to time, but most the time you can find him in Arlington, running from the Pentagon to the base to Hasbro and back again."

"Thanks Miles you've been a real help," said Mikaela as started heading towards the door.

"Leaving already?" Miles asked.

"Well I have to go find Mr. Entrepreneur before he runs off again."

"Alright you want me to tell Ron and Judy you stopped by?"

"Um…sure I guess. But only if they're in a good mood."

"Arlington isn't too far from the Pentagon," Keiara later informed Mikaela over the phone, as Mikaela parked at the Fresno International Airport. "I think the Pentagon, might actually be in Arlington. I can't remember."

"Well, it's a good thing you put me at Ronald Reagan then. Listen I need to go return this car and get my boarding pass for my flight. I'll call you when I'm in Arlington."

With no luggage, the retrieving her boarding pass was easier than usual. On her way to her gate a large man ran past her, nearly knocking her down as, what appeared to be his son called, "Daddy!"

The man was dressed in Army camouflage and it was safe to assume that this was a small reunion. The man was greeted by a small woman, who looked to be his wife and two more children, a teenage girl and a young boy.

Mikaela smiled slightly admiring the reunion. Such happy reunions gave her hope that maybe she hadn't screwed her relationship with Sam that badly.

She was about to turn to catch her flight, when she noticed a wallet fallen at her feet. Assuming it was the man who had accidently ran into her, Mikaela picked it up and flipped it open.

"Trent!?!"

Mikaela looked up from the picture ID and saw the military man, whom she now recognized as her ex-boyfriend from high school.

"Mikaela? Mikaela Banes? I thought you were in some sand dunes in Arizona?" he chuckled advancing towards her with his family. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm on my way to Virginia," she explained, handing him his wallet. "Here, you dropped this."

"Thanks. So, are you still dating Sam Witwicky?" He asked chuckling.

"No, I'm not."

The awkward moment that was to come was saved by Trent's wife who asked, "Sweet heart who is this?"

"Oh, sorry babe. Maddy this is Mikaela, my, uh, ex-girlfriend from high school. Mikaela this is my wife Maddy and our three kids Elise, Mark and Peter."

Although his daughter snorted, Maddy stayed polite and extended her hand saying, "Pleasure to meet you."

"So you're on your way to Virginia?" Trent asked. "I just left Arlington."

"Really? I'm on my way there."

"You know Sam works there in Arlington. He's about to get shipped back to the Middle East, though."

"What?" Mikaela asked.

"Well, I mean I don't know if he's left yet. He does tours sometimes in the Middle East. I know he was telling one of my buddies that he was leaving this month, but I don't know when. You seem pretty interested. I thought you two weren't dating?"

"We're not. But I am on my way to see him," Mikaela explained. "He was in Phoenix and I missed him, so I was going to try to catch up with Sam in Arlington."

Trent's next words were interrupted by his youngest, Peter who broke from his concentration on his toy to ask, "Daddy who's Sam?"

"He's my friend's friend," Trent explained.

"Don't you mean your ex-friend's friend," Elise snickered. Trent and Maddy glared briefly at their daughter.

"Excuse her," Maddy apologized.

"Its fine," Mikaela shrugged. Her attention was caught by the small toy that was in Peter's hands. "Hey, is that a Transformer?"

"Yep!" the young boy explained. "It's my favorite toy. Do you want to see it?"

He happily handed her the robot toy, which she noticed had a striking resemblance to a bright yellow robot that she knew all too well.

"And what's his name Bumblebee?" she lightly teased.

"Yeah! How did you know?" Peter asked.

Mikaela grinned. "Just a lucky guess. Besides, he looks a bit like one." She handed the toy back to Peter.

"He's my favorite!"

"You know Sam makes those, right?" Tent asked.

"Yeah, I was over at the Witwicky's and Miles was telling me all about it."

"Miles?" Trent asked.

"Sam's best friend," Mikaela reminded.

"Oh, oh right."

Mikaela rolled her eyes. It was obvious her ex had no memory of Miles. His daughter seemed to pick that up also, which earned her another glare from her mother.

"Mr. Sam makes the Transformers Daddy?" Peter asked. "You know who makes the Transformers?"

"Yes, I do," Trent told his son proudly. "We went to high school together." Mikaela once again fought the urge to roll her eyes. She wondered what his son would think if she told him about how well he knew Mr. Sam back in high school.

"Can I meet him? Can I? Can I?" Peter begged jumping up and down.

"Not today sweetie," Maddy interjected. "Daddy just came home and I'm sure Ms. Mikaela has a flight to catch, which we're all holding her up on."

Mikaela's heart saddened at the disappointment on Peter's face.

"I do have to get going. It was nice meeting up with you Trent."

"Oh yeah, you too. And if you see Sam, tell him that the next time he releases a new product or whatever, lower the freaking price! He's running a whole in my pockets!"

Mikaela laughed and waved the family goodbye before departing for her own flight.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing of Transformers.

* * *

Chapter 5

Arlington, Virginia was booming with life as Mikaela walked down the streets. It was bigger than Tranquility, but smaller than Phoenix and still managed to make her feel unbelievably crammed. She was on her way to the Hasbro building. On her flight to Arlington, she decided that her chances of getting to the Pentagon were slim to none. She had a better bet by going to his toy company, which apparently wasn't too far.

Hasbro, like Miles had indicated, was only a few blocks from the Pentagon. However the short walk gave Mikaela limited time to think about how she was going to get to the top floor where Sam's office was. She was finally inspired by the public touring of the building going on and slipped in with the crowd.

"So at 21, with a degree from Boston College and a Purple Heart for his work with Military Intelligence, Samuel Witwicky was surprisingly rather confused with where he wanted to go next. It wasn't until he was driving down the streets of his home town, Tranquility, California when he saw this young boy holding a toy robot closely to his chest as he sat in his mother's car. He admired the boy's love for his toy, which reminded him how much he loved his own car. And he thought to himself, how he could share that type of love with others, which thus lead us to—"

Mikaela tuned the older woman out as she spoke about Sam's journey with Hasbro. The tour guide lead the group through the first and second floor and the basement, where the production of the toys where. As the tour guide was half way through her tale on the basement floor, Mikaela hung back, closest to the stairs, and when she saw that no one was looking, she made a run for it.

It wasn't until she reached the top of the stairs leading back to the second floor, did she hear the footsteps of her pursuit hers, who sounded like security guards. Trying to keep up the pace, Mikaela dashed up the stairs and bolted into the third floor where she just made the elevator on the other side of the office.

By now her breath was ragged, but she was proud of her small success. Tapping furiously on the number seven, the elevator slowly reached to the top floor before Mikaela sprinted out and ran straight into Sam's personal assistant.

After collecting herself, Joan Davis starred Mikaela down.

"Now, you wouldn't happen to be the reason why three of the best security guards are running frantically around this building, would you, Ms. Banes?"

"Look, I need to see Sam."

"He's unavailable," she snapped.

"No, you don't understand," Mikaela urged blocking the woman's way. "I **need** to see him."

"No, Ms. Banes you seem to be the mistaken one. Mr. Witwicky is unavabile. Now you can either hear what I'm saying now, or hear it behind bars. Your choice."

"Please. Look I know you don't like me and I know this looks like I'm trying to tramp all over you and Sam but—"

Mikaela was interrupted mid sentence by Joan pulling her farther into the office space. She pushed a pair of large, oak doors open and brought Mikaela in.

"Are you on drugs?" Joan hissed at her. "You think I'm dating Sam?"

"You are his _personal _assistant," Mikaela reminded.

Joan sighed loudly. "Mr. Witwicky and I have nothing but a professional relationship. We're just friends. That's it."

Mikaela starred at the woman for a moment before asking, "What about the house? He's supposed to be moving in with his partner."

"Exactly. You and I both know Bee takes up a lot of room," Joan reminded. She walked towards the large desk in the center of the room and turned over a picture frame. It was a picture of her and Sam. The same one that Keiara had somehow snuck into her apartment.

"That's the only woman that I'm aware of Mr. Witwicky having an ounce of interest in," Joan explained.

Mikaela gazed at the old photograph for a moment, lost in the past before she returned to the current situation.

"Where is Sam now?" she asked.

"He was shipped yesterday," Joan informed. "But, I might be able to get a hold of him. Sit tight."

She crossed over to his desk again and picked up his phone. "Hello Allison? It's Joan. Yes will you please tell the security guards on the lower floor to drop the search? I have our little criminal with me. And also can you can the Embassy and tell them that Mr. Witwicky will have a guest in his suite tonight. Thank you."

After she ended her conversation, Joan did not direct her attention back to Mikaela. Instead she dialed another number and waited briefly before getting a reply.

"Hey, Epps it's me. I need a favor."

"Sure what is it?" Epps responded, his bass voice loud enough to hear without the receiver.

"Do you know of a Mikaela Banes?" Joan asked.

"Mikaela Banes? As in Sam Witwicky's Mikaela Banes? Yeah, sure I know her. Why?"

"She's in his office."

"You're shitting me. There's no way!"

"When there's a will, there's a way. And trust me this girl has a will. Listen, I know that Sam was shipped yesterday, but he mentioned that he might not have to stay long. I was wondering if you could inform him of his visitor if possible. I don't know how far he got, so maybe he might be persuaded to turn back home."

"Yeah, sure just give me about ten minutes to see if I can get a hold of—hold on wait a moment."

Epps was silent for a moment before returning to the phone, "I got to go, Jo. I'll try to get a hold of Sam and get back to you. Try to be nice! I'll talk to you later."

"Alright, be safe out there. See you soon."

Joan hung up the phone and then gave Mikaela a slightly exasperated look.

"You better not screw this up twice, Arizona," Joan warned. "I'd hate to have to show you watch being raised by an Army Sergeant and an Army Lieutenant _**really**_ means."

Joan soon led Mikaela out of Sam's office and introduced her to the members of the Hasbro Marketing team on the top floor, including the Marketing Secretary Allison Bridge. After that Joan took her down to the main level floor.

"So how did you get here?" Joan asked.

"I flew from Tranquility," Mikaela answered.

"And around Arlington? Do you have a car?"

"Just a rental, why?"

"You'll have to return it," Joan instructed. "I don't trust you, Mikaela. I'm not Sam. Therefore I'm getting someone to watch you."

Before Mikaela could ask who, the elevator doors opened and Joan briskly walked through the main floor to the back of the office where another elevator. Inside this elevator was a thumb print identification and password code, was located.

"That's odd," Joan commented after the elevator began to move.

"What?" Mikaela asked.

Joan taped above the key pad to a black box that stuck out.

"It's an eye scanner," Joan explained. "I didn't know it was broken."

After getting access to ride the elevator it took the pair of them down three levels below the main floor, two levels below the public garage.

When the doors reopened, they slammed shut harshly.

"I'll get it back open later," Joan said dismissing the doors, peering around the garage. "Where the hell is Acree?"

It was true, the fuchsia motorcycle that Mikaela had once known was nowhere in sight. Joan grumbled something incoherent about the military.

She retyped her password into the elevator box and the doors reopened. When they got back to the main floor Joan walked up to the secretary guard not too far from the elevator's entrance.

"Lucas can you tell me who rented out Acree today?" Joan asked. "She was here this morning."

"Yes ma'am," the security guard replied. "A solider with proper ID and paperwork came in not too long after you did. He said his name was Thomas Frank."

"Can I see his identification please?"

The security quickly typed on his computer and turned the screen so that we could both see the man who was identified as Thomas Frank.

"That's not Thomas Frank," Mikaela whispered softly.

"It's not?" Joan asked. "And how do you know?"

"That's Trent McHale. He lives in Tranquility, California. I saw him on my way here at the Fresno Airport. He had just come back from Arlington."

"And you're sure that's him?" Joan asked.

"Positive."

"Look up a Trent McHale," Joan ordered the security guard. Without hesitation the man did as told and looked up Trent's name. Sure enough, another man's picture showed.

"Well, I know that's not Trent McHale," Joan said. "That's Henry Locke. He's being stationed Afghanistan right now."

Joan glanced quickly at Mikaela before returning her attention back to the security guard. "I want you to send this to the military immediately and inform them that I'm on my way. I also want the security tapes of today on my desk when I return. Is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am. Everything will be ready for you upon your return."

"Excellent. Mikaela come with me."

"Where are we going?" Mikaela asked as they exited Hasbro building.

"The Pentagon. They have a direct link to Sam. He needs to know about this. Besides, I'm sure he'll be interested in hearing about the company he'll be having too. C'mon, we'll take my car."

* * *

And so the plot begins to thicken...

Please don't forget to Review!

Thanks,

Santiva Potter


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing of Transformers

* * *

Chapter 6

It was nearing seven o'clock at night and the Hasbro building all but empty save for Allison Bridge, the Marketing secretary a few janitors and a security guard on a lower floor. Allison was on her way to leave. She was just filling away the last of some papers, while listening to the evening news.

"In the latest, there was an explosion on Fifth and Broadway Street this evening. Nearly only a half hour ago, a car exploded in the Broadway Centre Parking lot. Those closest to the vehicle suffered minor burn wounds, however there has been no new information about the owners of the car. What we do know is that there are no remains inside of the car, which make police believe that the owners of the car were either taken or abandoned the car prior to the explosion. The vehicle is a 2008 burgundy Chevy Impala with the license plate number: WIZ 9846."

Allison turned just in time to see a display of the car after the explosion and the footage from a store camera for the explosion. The papers that had been in her hands frantically fell to the ground. She knew that car.

At the sound of the office phone ringing, Allison ran to her desk and picked up the call.

"Hello?"

"Allison? It's me, Epps. Is Joan in?"

"N-No. Have you spoken with her recently?" Allison asked.

"No. That's why I was calling. She asked me to get a hold of Sam and I told her I would call her back but I haven't heard from her. Allison, what's wrong? You sound like you're in shock.

"I think—"

"Shut your mouth," a cold lifeless voice commanded. Allison felt a gun pressing into her head from behind.

"Sit down," the voice, which she barely recognized as a woman. "Now tell him that there has been an accident."

"E-Epps? There's been an accident," Allison said.

"What? Jo's been in an accident? Allison why are you still at work?" Epps exclaimed.

"Explain to him, you didn't know. Tell him you're on your way, right now."

"I-I didn't know. I'm on my way down to the station right now."

"Alright. Just promise me that you'll call me when you get down there."

"Tell him you promise," the woman ordered.

"I promise."

"Good," the woman congratulated. "Now hang up the phone."

"Epps. I have to go I'll call you later," Allison rushed before hanging the phone up. "W-What do you want with me?"

"I want you show me, where Mr. Witwicky keeps his access card," the woman commanded.

"His what?"

"Access card, you worthless human!" the woman growled pushing the gun in to Allison's skull. Her ladylike voice was now broken and pushed towards a more mechanical tone.

Allison slowly rose and led her to where Sam's office was. She went behind his desk and started hunting through his drawers. With the intruder on the other side, Allison was able to get good side glances of the woman. She had dark fuchsia hair and blended with black. Her skin tone was a pale, metallic grey and the left side of her face was embedded with cobalt coding. After a moment, Allison found what she was looking for.

"Is this it?" she asked holding up the small chip, just above Sam's laptop.

The woman grinned, raised her gun and Allison's world abruptly ended.

With the woman dead on the floor, the intruder easily stepped over her body and retrieved the access card. On her way out of the office, she ran into one of her accomplices.

"Is that it Yoko?" the man asked.

"Indeed it is, Mare. Is Viral ready?" Yoko asked.

"Ready and stationed. It'll be quiet an interesting night for him," Mare chuckled.

"Indeed," Yoko agreed. "He should enjoy his little snack. Where are the others?"

"They're all downstairs with the last human."

The pair walked down together to the security hub which was behind the front desk on the main floor. In it was a hefty human was sitting at gun point.

"Erase the last hour, now!" Yoko commanded. "And you might actually live through this."

The human quickly did as he was told and erased the tapes.

"Did you learn from the V?" Mare asked from behind Yoko. "Do you think you could do it next time?"

From the corner of the small room, a creature, clothed in a dark hood emerged from the shadows. His face was not visible. But his long wicked tongue, stained with a thick red substance could clearly be seen as it quickly flicked out. After a moment the creature nodded its head.

"Good," Yoko replied. She then turned to her other accomplices, two of a male descent and one of a female, and ordered, "Take care of our insect issue."

A loud gunshot sounded as Yoko and Mare left the premises.

In the parking lot awaiting them was a large shipping truck. The pair entered through the passenger's door and moved to the seats behind the driver.

"How is our little prize doing in the back?" Yoko asked.

"Making a lot of trouble for herself," the driver responded. "Ceke has been icing her down constantly. It was too risky trying to get her to transform. We would have lost her."

"Well, I guess that means that I won't be able to give her my surprise just yet," Yoko said. "Not to worry, when we get her to the base we'll be able to set all of that straight."

Yoko rose from her seat and opened the metal door that lead to the back of the truck. In the pack was Ceke was stood icing down a fuchsia motorcycle.

"And we meet again, dearest Acree. It's been too long."

"What shall we do next, Yoko?" Mare asked coming from behind.

"We wait," Yoko responded. "Prime is going to be looking for her and Witwicky will return once he hears about the massacre at his office especially after the recent additions. Then with this access card, we'll get into his military office and we can add some more numbers to Viral's food count."

"And what the boss said? He doesn't want to involve the others. How will we keep this to ourselves?" Mare asked.

"Well, I have a little idea about that," Yoko smiled. "Trust me Mare, all is well."

* * *

Thank you for the reviews! Please keep reviewing, feedback is always welcome. And don't worry too much about Sam/Mikaela. They'll get there...they just have a few *minor* issues to deal with first. ;)

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the Transformers franchise.

* * *

Chapter 7

"Mommy can we have this?"

"No! I want this instead!"

"Nuh-uh. We gonna get this, right mommy?"

"That's enough from both of you!" Sarah Lennox said taking the box of Oreos and Snickers from her two younger children. From behind her ten-year-old Anna grabbed her waist and brought another snack.

"No, Anna. I'm sorry. Mommy has bought enough food for the night. Come on. Let's get you all home," Sarah said, making her way to the check-out line at the grocery store.

As she stood in line, Madeline and Lucas, her four and five year olds, stood next to the cart arguing about some new toy and Anna had somehow gotten Daniel out of his baby seat in the shopping cart and into her arms.

Anyone could have told Sarah that having four children would be exhausting, but having four children and a missing Will was even worse. He always seemed to have a constant flow of energy that made him perfect for having kids—especially toddlers—whereas Sarah felt as though she could use a real good break. Not that she hated her husband for his occupation, but she just needed him sometimes.

"Next!" the clerk called ready to ring up Sarah items. Anna finally put Daniel back to assist her mother in unloading the cart.

"Mommy! Mommy look! Auntie JoJo's car is on the news!" Lucas exclaimed, pointing to the television above them.

"And tonight we visit the horrible explosion on Fifth and Broadway. Earlier this evening a car exploded in the Broadway Centre Parking lot. Those closest to the vehicle suffered minor burn wounds—"

The rest of the reporter's words were forgotten at the sight of the burgundy Impala ablaze.

Sarah gripped the rim of the shopping cart for balanced as the images sunk in. She was shaken out of her shock by Anna who cried, "Daddy's calling mommy! Daddy's calling!"

Sarah picked up the phone quickly. "Will—"

"Sarah, finally! What took you so long?"

"Will, there's been an accident—"

"I know, Epps' is freaking out—"

"I don't think Jo made it, Will."

Will was silent for a moment before he responded. "I don't think so either. But I need to be sure. Epps is freaking out over here. He was trying to do Jo a favor and when he called her back, she didn't pick up. He's been calling for hours now. And then Epps spoke earlier to Allison Bridge, one of Sam's secretaries. She was supposed to go down to the crime scene, but that was nearly an hour ago and we haven't heard from her. Epps is losing his mind over here. Do you think you can head down there to see what's going on?"

"Of course. I'll just drop the kids off at the house and see if Rachelle can watch them and I'll make my way down there," Sarah promised.

"One more thing, love, Fig is on his way home. He should be coming in early tomorrow. Do you think you can pick him up from the airport?"

"Sure. I'll do it. Let me get the kids to Rachelle and I'll call you back in about an hour, okay?"

"Alright. Tell the kids I love them and I'll be home as soon as I can."

"Of course."

"Hey, Sarah?"

"Yes, Will?"

"I love you."

Although she hadn't noticed it, she was already out of the grocery store and in the light breeze of the Arlington night. She smiled, although she knew he couldn't see that and gazed lovingly at their children.

"I love you too. I'll see you soon."

"Where are we going mommy?" Madeline asked, after Sarah had gotten off of the phone and started the car.

"You all will be going to the house and Aunty Rachelle is going to watch you. Mommy has to go downtown for a while."

Fifth and Broadway Street was completely blocked off, so Sarah parked her car about two blocks down and walked up. The Broadway Centre Parking lot was roped off with Police tapes and there were still several civilians on the edges of the boundaries.

"Excuse me officer!" Sarah called after she pushed her way to the front.

A scruffy officer came towards her way and asked, "Ma'am please, we're trying to conduct an investigation. We need you all to back up."

"I know the owner of the car, please! I just need some answers!"

The officer stared at her for a moment, before lifting the tape and allowing Sarah to pass through.

"Go right into Greco's and nowhere else. There'll be a team in there who'll want to speak with you."

Doing as the man said, Sarah walked into the Italian restaurant and was greeted by three officers, one of them being Mark Gregory, one of her co-worker's husbands.

"Sarah?" Mark asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I told the officer at the front that I knew the owner of the car and he said you all would want to speak with me."

"Who owns the car Sarah?" Mark asked.

"Joan Davis. But where is she?"

Mark was silent before he answered, "We don't know."

"What?"

"The car was empty when it exploded," another officer answered. "There were no human remains."

"Did you speak with Joan today Sarah?" Mark asked. "Do you know anyone who might take her car?"

"No," Sarah answered. "But I'm sure she had it. She was at work today."

"How do you know that?" Mark asked. "Doesn't she work for Sam Witwicky?"

Sarah then told the officers of her conversation with her husband about Joan and Allison.

"And you've heard from neither of them, correct?" the second officer asked.

Sarah nodded.

"Sarah, you've done more than enough," Mark said. "You can go home. We'll go to Hasbro and check it out and I'll call you if I have any information."

"You won't be able to get in," Sarah said. "Allison is usually the last person out. It's past ten. The whole building is on automatic lock down. The only way you can get into Hasbro is with security cards and passwords."

"Passwords that I'm assuming you have," the second officer asked.

"Follow me," Sarah said.

Hasbro was a dark, towering building at night. She had once told this to Sam and Will, who both laughed, but in the light of all that had transpired the building only seemed even more demented. Sarah couldn't pin point exactly what was off about the building. Everything looked as it should. The entire building was on its nightly automatic lock down and the parking lot was completely empty. Using the spare key and password that Will had given her, Sarah led the three officers into the building and another team of four officers.

On the main floor the houselights were still on.

"Is this normal Sarah?" the second officer, whose name she learned to be Rodgers asked.

"I'm not really sure. I think so. The lights are automatic. They should come on when anyone walks into the building and turn off once the last person leaves."

"How does it determine someone leaving?" Mark asked.

"Heat sensors," Sarah replied.

"Witwicky is pretty hi-tech," the third officer, Wills commented.

"I asked, because the house lights were already on when we came in," Mark pointed out. "Do the lights on all the floors come on if someone is still in the building or just on the floor that the person is on, Sarah?"

"I'm not sure," Sarah responded. "It's most likely the floor that you're on. I doubt Sam would waste energy like that."

"Check the floor," Rodgers commanded.

After a moment or so the floor rang with declarations of "Clear!"

"Where's the elevator Sarah?" Mark asked.

"The public one is behind Schooner," Sarah replied pointing to the only female officer with them. "You can take it three floors up without needing a password. But I-I need to check something else. Mark, do you mind following me? We can meet them on the third floor in a minute."

Mark nodded and the others made their way to the elevator.

Sarah took Mark to the back of the floor where the private elevator was located. Inside Sarah quickly went through the thumb print identification and typed in the password and hit the LB button.

"What does LB stand for?" Mark asked as the elevator began to move.

"Lower Basement."

"And what exactly is in this lower basement?"

The doors to the elevator opened again and Sarah and Mark stepped into the garage.

"Can I see your flashlight?" Sarah asked peering around. Mark handed it to her, but even with the light Acree was nowhere in sight.

"Peters, Rodgers, where are you at on the other floors?" Mark called into his radio. There was no response. After a few more tries, Mark turned it off.

"I guess you don't get any service down here," Mark mumbled.

"What exactly are you looking for Sarah?" he asked watching her look around.

"A motorcycle," Sarah replied.

"A motorcycle? What's so special about a motorcycle?" Mark asked.

"Don't know," Sarah lied. "I just know it's important."

"You're lying Sarah. I want to help. Tell me the truth."

Sarah sighed. "It's confidential Mark. Will would kill me."

"Are we talking Pentagon confidential?"

"Yes."

"Shit. So why does Witwicky have it in his garage?"

"It's his _personal _garage. There are only a handful of people with the codes. Not to mention Sam runs a pretty tight security around here. I mean how many businesses have thumb print IDs, coded passwords, heat sensors, eye scanners—"

"Eye scanners?" Mark asked.

"Yes," Sarah replied. "Eye scanners. They're used specifically for the restricted floors."

"Is this a restricted floor?" Mark asked.

"Well, yes," Sarah answered. "Why?"

"You didn't use an eye scanner to get down here. Did you notice that?"

"No," Sarah responded slowly.

"Who controls the eye scanner?" Mark asked.

"Sam does. But Sam's away in the Middle East. He wouldn't just turn it off."

"Sam is the only one who could do this correct?"

"Maybe Joan, but I don't see why she would want to turn it off either. She's security crazy."

"I don't know about this Joan," Mark answered. "Sam's ex comes into town looking for Sam and sees Joan. Joan calls Epps, who tells her that he'll call her back and when he does, she doesn't pick up the phone. Epps then calls Allison Bridge, who by this time has seen the explosion on Fifth and Broadway. She promises to go down and figure everything out. But Allison never calls back. And now—"

"Wait are you trying to say that Joan has been doing all of this?"

"Maybe," Mark reasoned. "Jealous of Sam's hot ex-girlfriend. Maybe she doesn't want her back in Sam's life. She is his _personal _assistant. And don't give me that look Sarah; it's happened plenty of times."

"Not this time," Sarah argued. "Joan is not interested in Sam."

"And you know because…?"

Sarah sighed loudly again before answering, "She's with Epps. That's why he's freaking out."

"She's dating Epps? Why is that such a huge secret?"

"There's a bit of an age difference between the pair. It also has a lot to do about privacy and something in Jo's past. They may not broadcast it but they _are _dating."

"Well it doesn't mean she can't have a thing for Sam," Mark argued. "If you get into the habit of hiding one thing, you can hide plenty of other things too."

Mark made a move to hit the button for the elevator, but Sarah beat him to it.

"It's another thumb ID. You would have set the alarm off," Sarah explained. When they were both on the elevator she continued saying, "Besides, Jo's not like that. Her whole family is military orientated. It would have gone against everything she had learned as a child to steal from the military."

"Could be a spy for another country," Mark suggested as Sarah punched in level 7.

"Her whole family is from the States."

"Level 7," the automated voice from the elevator said, "is a restricted level. Accessing eye scanner…"

"Well the eye scanner seems to be working," Mark said as the black box opened up. "Seems like someone has been tampering with the system. And according to you the only two people who could do that would be Sam and Joan. Y'know it is a possibility that Sam could have done this himself."

"Not likely," Sarah snapped. She was tired of the accusations growing ridiculous to absurd. "Sam's a war hero. He'd never."

"Pissed off at the government?" Mark asked.

"Sarah Lennox. Access Granted."

"Sam loves his job. He's a workaholic," Sarah responded as the elevator began to move.

"Sounds like motive to me," Mark said. "They overwork him."

"No, he overworks himself. He's the CEO of the largest toy company and he does classified work for an interna—the point is that Sam chooses this."

"Maybe he wanted to get out," Mark suggested.

"Then he would. No one would hold him back. Everyone has been trying to get Sam to take a break for **years**," Sarah snapped.

"Sorry, Sarah," Mark apologized after a moment. "I have to ask—"

"I know. It's all about procedure. It's just I _know_ that neither Joan nor Sam would do this."

"What about the ex-girlfriend?"

"Mikaela?" Sarah asked. "No, she hasn't seen Sam since they were about eighteen. How would she get into the restricted parts of the building?"

"Level 7," the elevator announced, "Mr. Samuel Witwicky's office."

Mark stepped up in front of Sarah and entered Sam's office first, gun raised.

"Clear," Mark said after a moment. "You can come in Sarah."

Sarah stepped off of the elevator and the two of them made for the doors towards the seventh level office.

"Do the doors have sensors?" Mark asked.

"No," Sarah said.

Mark kicked the doors opened and they were both greeted with bright light.

"Allison?" Sarah called before Mark hushed her.

They walked up to the front of the floor to Allison's desk and found her slumped over, blood slowly dripping from the back of her head to meet the pool below.

"Oh my god," Sarah whispered, tears beginning to drop.

There was a soft creak audible to even the poorest of ears.

"We need to get out of here," Mark said. The pair moved quickly towards the elevator and took it down to the main floor.

"What about your partners?" Sarah asked once they got on to the elevator.

Mark bit his lip. "Do not turn around," he advised.

* * *

Thanks for reading! And please don't forget to review!

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the Transformers franchise

* * *

Chapter 8

Not listening, Sarah turned to see three of the officers dead bodies slopped in the corner.

Mark muffled her scream. "We can't let them hear us, Sarah. They know we're here. Please we have to be quiet. Is there an exit route we can take undetected?"

Sarah nodded, "But I can't remember what floor it's on. It's either two or three. But I do know that it is right next to the secretary's desk. It's a small door that you climb into. It leads to a tunnel which leads to storm drain."

"Okay we'll go to both floors. Breathe Sarah, we'll be fine. I'll exit first and check it out before you show us the door, alright? Okay, we're coming up on level three."

The elevator opened its door to level three and Mark stepped onto the floor. From the elevator she couldn't see him once he reached the secretary's desk but his voice carried well in the darkness.

"It's all clear. I don't see the—GAH!"

Sarah stepped quickly off of the elevator to watch a large metallic lizard organism towering over Mark take an inhumanly large bite of her friend.

"SARAH RUN!"

Sarah ran back to the elevator as she heard the rips and tears behind her. The elevator closed quickly missing the monster by a few seconds. The speed of the elevator was not fast enough as Sarah tried not to look behind her or think back on fresh memories.

Once on the second floor she ran to the secretary's desk and crawled through the trap door. It was so small that she could only crawl through as fast as possible until about a half way, the tunnel finally opened so that Sarah could run.

She reached the end of the tunnel she climbed hastily up the stairs and shoved the drain top over and climbed out of the tunnel—and into a busy intersection. There was a flash of headlights, loud honking horns and screeching tires as Sarah tried to duck into safety. As she did this a large shipping truck, ran into another shipping truck and a loud explosion entertained the ears of everyone.

But from that, something incredible occurred. Amazed, Sarah watched as the end of one of the shipping trucks rumbled again, and something exploded from the end of truck.

A motorcycle.

"ACREE!" Sarah screamed over the explosion. She could hear shots fired from one of the trucks as the Autobot turned around and raced in her direction. Sarah got on to the bike as quickly as possible and Acree took off trying to dodge the shots from behind and leading Sarah deeper into the darkness of the night.

Acree drove wildly through the city, even after the shots died down.

"Where are we going?" Sarah shouted over the engine.

"Higher ground," Acree responded. "We need to meet Jolt."

"No, I have to check on my children," Sarah argued.

"Where are they?" Acree asked.

"At the house."

The robot's engine groaned, but still turned around and sped towards the Lennox's household. As they looped through more traffic, Acree unveiled a small flashlight.

"Raise it up to the skies," she commanded. Sarah did as she was told and watched the light strike through the clouds.

"Why am I doing this? Are we trying to contact someone?"

"Mainly Jolt. I fear that the Twins are too far away at this point. He was already on his way when Sam's alert went off."

"Alert? What alert?"

"It's an automatic alert," Acree explained. "It's build into the security system at Hasbro. If anything were to get stolen from the basement—like me—the silent alarm goes off. I'm sure that the Amnabots knew nothing about that."

"Amnabots?" Sarah asked. "Is that what they're called?"

"Yes and no," Acree answered. "Technically they are Homobots."

"So, Autobots in a human form?"

Acree chuckled, "That along with some serious attitude issues. There are over a five societies of Homobots and Amnabots are just one of them."

"So what can they do?"

"Well, their bodies are made from an ancient metallic substance that no longer exists called robovise. We autobots are also created with the same material but theirs is much more advanced. In the Amnabots' case it allows them to change any body part into a weapon."

Acree's next sentence was interrupted as she began to slow down. Sarah, not realizing that she had kept her eyes on the road below her, looked up to see that they had arrived to her house. The house was dark and Rachelle's car was still parked where Ironhide usually sat. Sarah tried not to think long on the family's guardian, who was currently overseas with Will, Epps, Sam and the other Autobots.

Although the house looked pristine from the outside, inside it was evident that something had gone terribly wrong. Chairs, glass, tables and pictures were thrown everywhere and there was a definitive trail of blood leading from the front door to the kitchen.

"RACHELLE!" Sarah yelled running through the house. She opened the door in the kitchen to see Rachelle, limp on the tile floor, her hair stained with blood.

"Oh my god, Rachelle," Sarah whispered as she crouched down next to the young girl. She checked for her pulse, which was barely there.

"ACREE!" Sarah called, picking up Rachelle's body.

"Behind you."

Sarah turned to see Acree in her holographic form.

"We need to get her to the hospital," Sarah said indicating towards Rachelle. "Her heart is still beating."

"Barely," Acree noted. "I can take her, but there are some more troubling things that we need to deal with."

"Like what?"

"My sensors detect that someone is still in the house. Three someones to be exact."

"The kids!" Sarah cried, laying Rachelle back down. "Where? Acree tell me, where?"

"In the tunnel that Will built I think. I'll take Rachelle to the hospital and you can get the kids and meet me there alright?"

Sarah bolted without a response to the trap door that Will put in behind their bed. She remembered scolding him at the time for something that originally seemed so "unnecessary". She would have to remember to thank him, when he returned home. Pushing the bed aside, she opened the trap door and was met with two bright blue eyes.

"Mommy!" Lucas cried, jumping into her arms. Quick feet joined him as Madeline appeared holding tightly to Daniel. She pulled all of them into her embrace, before re-counting the heads.

"Where's Anna?" Sarah asked, still looking for her eldest daughter. "Where's your sister?"

"They took her!" Maddy cried.

"What!"

"She put us in here and told us to run as far as possible. She said she was going to get Rachelle and they took her!"

Sarah's heart froze in time as tears began to trickle down her face. The idea that her eldest, _her _Anna was gone was too much for the mother to handle. And it didn't help that the rumbles of explosions surfaced and rapidly increased until Sarah could see her house being torn apart from the inside. Throwing her children back into the cellar, she led them to the end, which happened to be by the bank of a nearby lake. From the distance she could watch her house blanket in flames.

The rumbling of an engine was not too far from behind her and Sarah could see Acree along with a blue Chevy Volt. The two transformers stopped just short of her and the children, who cowered behind her and transformed into their robot forms. In Jolts arms was the limp body of Rachelle. Sarah didn't need to check her pulse to know the verdict.

"After the explosives went off we couldn't save her," Acree apologized.

"I also owe you my apology Mrs. Lennox," Jolt said. "My tardiness ended a life, one dear to you, and for that you have my deepest regrets."

Sarah nodded as Jolt rested Rachelle's body by the river's edge.

"Where is Annabelle?" Acree asked eyeing the children.

"They took her," Sarah responded softly a sob threatening to break through. For the most part the mother was rather numb. The night's events had yet to sink in and the idea that her family was possibly one short….

"Then it is settled," Acree stated.

"What's settled?" Sarah asked.

"I'm going after them."

"That's not a good idea Acree," Jolt argued. "Prime will need your information."

"And you now know all of it. Besides we're running out of time. Yoko isn't going to keep Anna and Joan alive for very much longer. Prime is still in London. Furthermore Ironhide, Ratchet and Bee are still in Middle East with Witwicky and Lennox. It will take them at least an additional day even after get word out to them. Someone needs to act now. I'll just be looking out in case the Amnabots make an earlier move. In the mean time, get to Prime and the Twins. Vacation time is over for them."

"I don't like this Acree," Jolt warned.

"I'm not asking you to," Acree responded changing back into her motorcycle form. "I'm telling you to deal with it."

Acree's engine roared to life and she sped off into the night.

Jolt sighed before transforming back into his car form. He opened his doors for Sarah to put the kids in. Sarah slipped into the front seat as her children fell into slumber in the back.

"We'll take them to the hospital first," Jolt said. "And then we can stop by the Pentagon. They're going to want to hear about this."

"But before we do any of this," Sarah said, "we need to go by the airport."

"Who is at the airport?" Jolt asked as he began driving towards the main road. It took all of Sarah not to glance towards her burnt home.

"Fig. He's flying in today. Will sent him. He also has a computer, which when linked to you—"

"—Can transport messages to Will in the Middle East. Understood. We'll find him first then."

* * *

I think this is a bit more closure than last time! ;) Thanks for reading, and please don't forget to review!

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Transformers franchise

* * *

Chapter 9

Will was usually rather good at being patient and most importantly not losing his head. He could always keep his calm in even the most situations. This was not one of them.

Between Epps' frequent calls and Sarah's lack of calls, he was slowly losing his mind. He needed to know what was going on in Arlington. Sarah not calling back sacred him more than he was willing to admit, because he couldn't think of a reason why she wouldn't, unless she couldn't…

Groaning again, Will tried to let those thoughts empty his head, but in the desert there was no distraction for him to take. He had to sit and deal with the pending thoughts that weren't going to allow him to think, eat, let alone sleep. It didn't help that a good distraction—Ironhide and Ratchet, we currently rolling across the desert scouting the land. He wished he had opted to go with them instead of staying behind. At least when they returned he could hook his slow laptop to Ratchet's spark, which could work as his own private wireless system to contact anyone around the world.

As the heat continued to burn into him, Will's mind went back to the last previous hours. It was moments like these that he wished he had stayed in Arlington, where at least he would know everything and have a better idea of how to move forward. Here in the sands of Israel, there were no answers for him.

An hour had not passed before Will heard the roars of engines far off. Soon he could see Ironhide and Ratchet racing through the desert advancing towards him. All patience leaving him he ran to meet the two autobots in the desert.

"No response, I assume," Ratchet said after he transformed and allowed Will to hook up his computer.

"None," Will answered. "It's just too odd, don't you agree?"

"It is indeed," Ratchet agreed. "Perhaps we should contact Prime and Sam. We have waited long enough."

He and Ironhide shared a look. The two of them both seemed to be worried about the same aspect of this issues—Mikaela. He was nervous of how to exactly break the news that his ex-girlfriend, who not too long ago, refused to see him had come to visit him in Arlington, and not only had he missed her, because he had missed her, she was now in the hands of some psychopath.

Ironhide groaned, "We might as well get it over with. Maybe if we tell Bee, he'll chill out."

"Not likely," Will said. His attention then returned to the computer. He hooked his phone into Ratchet's satellite system and instantly connected into his webcam.

"How about we try to get a hold of Fig," Will suggested as he called the number. Fig's voice was heard too many moments later. He sounded tired and out of breath.

"Will, I've got bad news," Fig started. "I got to the airport and Sarah wasn't there. So I figured I'd just rent a car. Got the car and checked by your house. It's been completely burnt down. There's nothing Will, I—I'm sorry."

Gravity pushed Will's body back into the sand as shock overtook his mind.

"—I'm at the police station right now," Fig continued. "Apparently Sarah told a group of officers that she knew how to get into Sam's offices at Hasbro. They went to go check it out, y'know see if they could find any tapes of who Joan had been with last. Well when they didn't come back hours later, another team went in. That team hasn't come back either."

"And the children," Ironhide asked.

"The officers said that Sarah came with no one else. I can't remember the babysitter's name—"

"Rachelle. Tell them to look for a Rachelle Guard. She's our babysitter," Will choked. "Okay, Fig, here's what I want you to do. After you've found Rachelle, go straight to the Pentagon and stay there. I'm going to get in contact with Prime and the other autobots. We're on our way home."

"Yes sir," Fig said before hanging up.

Will stood up and began throwing their things into bags.

"Ratchet I need you to make a call to the nearest Naval Base. We've got to get out of here," Will ordered.

"Will…" Ironhide interjected.

"We'll have to get Sideswipe, too," Will continued not hearing his guardian.

"Will…."

"I mean there's no way we can carry four, five autobots across the Atlantic…"

"WILL!" Ironhide roared.

"What is it, Ironhide?" Will yelled back.

"We have another priority to attend to!"

"What other priority? Did you not hear Fig? They have my kids! They have my **wife!" **

Ironhide grabbed the laptop and threw it in Will's direction. Although the screen cracked, allowing sand to mix in with the plasma, Will could clearly see the eleven digit phone number dialing.

"You aren't the only one who had loved ones taken," Ratchet reminded.

"Will? Will? What's going on? Talk to me!"

"Sam…" Will began, "pack your things. We're going home."

Getting home wasn't as easy as Will would have liked. To get out of the Middle East, Ironhide and Ratchet drove him to the Israeli Naval Base in Haifa, where two Shaldag class boats were waiting for them.

"They are the fastest we have," Sgan Aluf Dori Eliezer assured Will and Sam, nearly twelve hours later as they walked through the base to the ships.

"They're patrol boats," Sam growled under his breath.

"We understand the short notice and we are extremely grateful for your cooperation, Sgna Aluf Eliezer," Will said.

"It is our pleasure. Do not be dismayed Mr. Witwicky, despite their size, they will adequetly satisfy your time frame," Sgan Aluf Eliezer said. "Now if you will excuse me, I have other matters to attend to."

"Besides," Will added after Eliezer left, "the 'Bots will be in car form. That should lift the weight."

"Just because I turn **into **a camaro does not necessarily mean that I still weigh the same as a camaro," Bee reminded.

"Well buddy if you can lose a few pounds in the next five minutes, you're going to make our lives that much easier."

Nearly an hour later, Will, Sam and the rest of the Autobots were loaded onto the patrol ships and they had finally left the Naval Base.

"So once we get to Italy, we'll take a plane to London?" Sam asked.

"No, we're driving through. I don't think any Italian Airlines can put Bee into cargo," Will answered.

"How long?" Sam asked.

"The trip? It'll be about a twenty-four hour drive, if we're lucky. However I just got off the phone with Graham, he's got the green light for the shutdown of the English Tunnel. We've got our own personal train that'll take us right into London."

"And after London? We still have to get to the states somehow," Sam reminded.

"Well we do know one flying Autobot."

"Sideswipe? He's going to carry all of us?"

"No," Will answered. "But Prime did say that Sideswipe is in London to get some upgrades. They're trying to see how much storage we can put on him."

"And if that doesn't work?" Sam asked.

"Well there are those _Queen Elizabeth _class aircraft carriers that have just been waiting for an American test-run."

Sam cracked a small smile.

"But other than that," Will concluded, "we wait."

"You mean we let anxiety, anger and doubt enter our hearts and mind and let it eat us alive?"

Will paused for a moment remembering Sarah and his children.

"Yeah, that too."

* * *

Thanks for reading, and please don't forget to review!

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I sadly, do not own anything of the Transformers franchise

* * *

Chapter 10

If there was one thing that Keiara Reid did not appreciate it was being treated like a fool, especially a fool in the dark. Which is why, when she could get nowhere with the Arlington police from her home in Phoenix, Keiara took the first flight to Virginia and did what she did best: bugged the hell out of people for answers.

But whatever was going on in this military town was being kept tightly under wraps. News cameras and radios where cramming around Sam's Hasbro building and the Pentagon, but neither side had yet to release a statement about the past events. From the rumors that she had heard, Sam was most likely not even in the country, which only made matters worse.

"Keiara I hate to say this but—"

"No, Jonathan, I'm not leaving with answers. I want to know what happened," Keiara argued with her husband over the phone. "Mikaela doesn't just fall off the face of the earth!"

"Have you spoken to any police officers or department heads?"

"Have I? Jonathan every time I mention her name they all look at me like I'm crazy! They didn't even know she was here! It's because of me that they're now looking for two people and not just one! Dammit John I want to know what happened to her!"

"I do too, Keiara, but I also know that you can't become so obsessed about this and completely forget your responsibilities back home," John responded.

"How am I supposed to look Abigail in the face and tell her that I gave up on looking for her granddaughter? And what about Rodger? What do I tell him? Give up on his daughter?"

John sighed. "No. It's just—be careful. There's something seriously dangerous going on over there and I don't want to lose you too. Promise me, Keiara."

"I promise," she vowed. "I'll call you if I get something new. Give the kids my love."

"Of course. I love you, babe. I'll call you later."

About an hour later, Keiara was glad that her husband hadn't asked her to not do anything stupid. She would have hated to lie to him.

She stood facing the large military base wondering how on earth she could even get the attention of someone in the Pentagon. Of course she knew the easiest and most detrimental approach, one she was hoping that wouldn't be necessary.

Keiara took an easy access in with a touring group. They had limited access to certain parts of the Pentagon, but on her way past a scale of an upcoming memorial, Keiara caught eye of a map of the different floors and office departments. She fell back in the group reading the list up in down.

"Now if I were Sam Witwicky, what would I be doing for the Pentagon? I mean, what do they need a toy maker for?"

She ran her finger up and down the list until it rested on the division of offices for NEST. She leaned over the plaque trying to decrypt its meaning.

"Excuse me ma'am," a security officer coming behind her asked. "Do you have identification and a permit to be on this level?"

"I-I"

"UGH!" a woman groaned coming off of the elevator. She looked tired and haggard. "I** hate **him."

"Um, I with her," Keiara lied quickly. She instantly took the woman's hand shaking it, begging for her to go along mentally. "I'm Keiara Reid; we spoke over the phone this morning about. I'm the new assistant you hired."

The woman was an excellent liar and could pick of hints amazingly well. "That's right," she agreed. "Yes, um, Ms. Reid, here I've been expecting you. Come with me and you can meet our clients. Excuse me officer."

The woman dragged Keiara onto the elevator and when the doors shut, the woman finally spoke.

"I don't know who you are, but if you've had a day like mine, I figured you could use some help."

"Thank you. You don't know what it means to me."

"Well as long has you have no immediate plans to the blow of the Pentagon, I don't mind."

The elevator stopped on Level 4 and Keiara got off and quickly found another map. She had coincidentally gotten off on the floor of where the NEST offices were supposedly located. She memorized the map quickly and took a left and the end of the hall, and was met by a pair of ordinary looking doors. Frowning she raised her hand to pull open the door, when a small pen shaped laser emerged from above her.

"Incorrect access. You are not permitted entrance into this facility. Intruder. Intruder."

"No no no no," Keiara hissed kicking the door in an ill attempt to make it stop. She instead left the door and ran back for the elevator. When the doors reopened she was met by a full team of security personnel.

"I think you should come with us."

Hours later, Keiara wrestled in the empty interrogation room. She didn't know what time it was, or how long she had been staying there. What she did know, was that when Jonathan heard about this—well she was never going to hear the end of it.

She rested her head onto the table, and what seemed like minutes later a small group of officers entered the room and bound her wrists in handcuffs.

"Wait a minute!" she complained. "What the hell is going on here? Let go of me!"

The officers gave no response and escorted her out of the room and to an underground tunnel where she was put into the back of a black SUV and driven away from the Pentagon building. Even after hours of pleading and begging, none of the officers responded to any of her question, nor said anything to each other. Around what she guessed would be two a.m., Keiara gave it a temporary rest to sleep. When she woke again, the car had stopped and they had now arrived at a hotel.

"What is going on here?" she tried again. There was no response.

The officers parked at the back of the hotel and escorted her inside and up to the top floor, in a suite.

"This is where you will be staying for the duration of your period here," one of the officers informed her. "You are not permitted to leave this hotel, or make any phone calls. If you do so, the Pentagon will be notified immediately and consequences will follow."

"Consequences?" she spat. "You drag me to a hotel, without any explanation and you're threatening me with consequences? Someone better tell me what the hell is going on around here or I'll—"

"Mr. Witwicky sends his regards," an officer responded before exiting her room.

Keiara threw her bag down in her empty room. "Screw you Sam."

By the end of her first day at the hotel—which she learned to be an Embassy in East Syracuse, New York—Keiara had learned very little about her arrangements. The hotel staff was very quiet when she asked them about how the hotel was to be paid for. They all insisted that the cost was already covered. And when she asked where and when the money came, they instantly clamored up like fish, refusing to give any information away.

She also learned that those military officials, whoever they were, weren't lying about the not being able to leave part. There were men watching her and every time she moved too close to the entry doors, they would step in as if an innocent stranger blocking her way.

It was nearing eight when Keiara wandered by the pool. She messed lightly with one of the strings of her jacket watching others splash away in the pool, enjoying their paradise.

"This place is great, don't you agree?" a man beside said.

"It's alright," Keiara responded dully.

"It's an Embassy!" the man insisted. "It's more than alright. It's paradise."

"Paradise of what? Ignorance? Secrecy?"

"Well, you know the saying: one man's trash is another man's treasure."

"And one man's treasure is another man's trash," Keiara retorted.

"Good point," the man responded. "Well, I'll leave you."

The man stood up and left the pool area whistling to himself. Keiara let her gaze wander around until she saw a brown wallet. It must have belonged to the man, she concluded picking it up.

When she arrived back into the hotel lobby she went up to the clerk, who instantly tensed.

"A man left his wallet at the counter. The name is Robert Colson according to his ID. Do you know what room he's in? I wanted to return it."

"Oh Mr. Colson? Yes, he's in 711. But I can have some of the—"

Keiara didn't bother to hear the rest, as she turned for the elevator.

Room 711 was on the 7th floor not too far from the elevator. When she emerged from the elevator, Keiara strolled down the hall casually and heard the conversation of two hissing voices.

"And you're sure no one is on my tail?" the man asked.

"You should relax Colson," a woman responded. "They have no idea. Everyone thinks you're dead. Blanche won't even be missed."

"Damn right he won't, fat bastard," Colson agreed.

Keiara slowed down as she reached closer to 711 where the voices were emerging from.

"The point is Witwicky's company is in shambles and now that we've got the bait that we need, we can lure him in."

"So you don't need to me to find that girl then?" Colson asked.

"No, she came to us," the woman laughed.

Keiara breath caught in her throat. She tore through the man's wallet and saw a security ID for Hasbro. She quickly heard the voices getting louder and ran back to the elevator. She threw her hands through her hair and leaned against the cool elevator wall. Jonathan was right. Something seriously dangerous was brewing.

* * *

Thank you for reading and please do not forget to review!

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own anything of the Transformers franchise

* * *

Chapter 11

Mikaela's eyes flickered open slowly. She wished she could simply go back to sleep. The room that they kept her in was damp, cold and infectious with not only just germs and disease but also misery. There was no way that she could get out of this, and she wasn't too keen on waiting for Sam to get his act together and come find her—if he even knew she was missing.

She dragged her body upward to lean against the grimy walls, when pain shot through her spine.

"Easy Mikaela," Joan said, "those whips are harder than you think."

Mikaela grimaced and nodded finding a somewhat comfortable spot. She eyed the room slowly and saw that there was a new guest.

"Who is that?" Mikaela asked, nudging towards the slumbering figure of a blond child.

"You don't recognize Annabelle Lennox?" Joan asked.

Mikaela watched as the girl moved restlessly in her sleep. "It's been awhile."

She and Joan fell back into silence, listening to the croaks and groans of chain metal and the scurry of rats and insects invisible to sight. Mikaela briefly turned her attention back to Sam's personal assistant. She looked restless, although Mikaela was sure that she looked no different. Her eyes were worn and forehead was wrinkled together, deep in thought.

"It doesn't matter," Mikaela told her. "We're stuck here."

"I refuse to sit here like a damsel in distress," Joan snapped.

"Well I hope you enjoy your Cinderella dress," Mikaela answered.

Joan was quiet for a moment before she responded, "You sure have enjoyed yours over the years."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Banes. I bet you enjoy this, being little Sleeping Beauty and waiting for your Prince Charming to come and rescue you," Joan growled. "Hell, you're just like Cinderella, you'll dance and prance around with Sam all night but when midnight strikes—oops, there goes Sam's heart!"

"Are you shitting me?" Mikaela snapped back. "You think it was easy for me to leave Sam? You think I just wanted to walk out of there?"

"It sure as shit didn't look hard!" Joan yelled.

"You have **no **idea what you're talking about," Mikaela growled. "I loved Sam—"

"**Loved **Sam. You **loved **him. That's sad because he still **loves **you!" Joan cut over. "Did you ever stop to think about how it might have affected Sam—"

"Affected Sam? It was all about Sam! Sam, this! Sam, that!" Mikaela fired back. "It was Sam who wanted to leave the college for that mission! Sam, who wanted to battle Starscream! It was a direct order to back down, and that idiot kept fighting! He got what he deserved!"

"What a love you have in him," Joan snarled.

"Fuck you and Samuel James Witwicky. I hope you both rot," Mikaela shouted.

"I bet you wish you were out there so that you could bring him in here in this hell! I bet you wish you were right at home in your perfect little world, untouched and unbothered by Sam."

"You don't know how much pleasure it would bring to watch you two _burn _together," Mikaela growled.

Joan didn't respond, instead she brought Anna closer to her and turned her back from Mikaela.

They didn't speak to each other. When Anna woke up, Joan promptly told her not to speak to anyone besides her, and did not mention Mikaela's relationship with Sam or Anna's father. So Mikaela sat in her corner, barely keeping herself together waiting for something to happen.

Nearly three days after their fight, something did happen.

Two guard men, although they could not be considered men, grabbed Mikaela roughly and dragged her out of the cell. They took her down a long narrow hall into another dark, cold and wet room. Unlike her cell however, the computers that were in this room made it feel alive. It looked to her like some sort of control center.

"Mikaela Banes," a woman's voice greeted. She stood in front of the computers, but behind a wooden desk. Her metallic skin with cobalt coding, golden and black hair, and her sinister smile made it undoubtedly clear that this woman was not human. The two guard men sat Mikaela down in the chair opposite of her.

"You know Mikaela," the woman began, "you're more of an accessory. You're not really needed around here. And things that aren't really needed are thrown into the trash…unless they can prove themselves resourceful."

She pulled out an old photograph and slid it slowly across the table. Mikaela wasn't sure how this woman could have gotten her hands on it. It was photo of her and Sam, taken a few weeks after Mission City by Ratchet. They were on Bumblebee's hood, resting peacefully. Mikaela starred long and hard at the photograph before ripping it in two. She slid the half of her back to the woman.

"Now it looks better," Mikaela replied. The woman smiled again.

"I'm glad we're on the same accord. But Mikaela," the woman responded leaning across the table, and gripping tightly onto Mikaela's neck, "I'd hate to imagine what would happen to you if you were to fail."

She bore into Mikaela's eyes mercilessly for a few minutes before releasing her grasp.

"You should frame the photograph now that it looks decent," Mikaela responded.

"I will," the woman answered. "My men will give you back your belongings and lead you out. When you've got Sam, you'll have all you need to find us. Wait outside."

Mikaela stood up from her chair and left the room. The door did not close completely so she was able to hear the whisperings from inside.

"—Are you sure this is a good idea Ceke?"

"Of course I am," the woman responded. "Instead of wasting valuable time finding Witwicky, he's going to come to us. Samuel Witwicky isn't going to know what hit him."

"And the girl?" one guard asked. "Do you think she's up to it?"

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned or _questioned,_"Ceke warned.

The guards did not answer to that and quickly left the room. They dragged her back down by her cell and made her stop while one guard left to retrieve her purse. In the cell, Joan and Anna were wide awake watching her every move.

"Take me with y—"

Joan hastily put her hand over Anna's mouth. Mikaela glared at the woman before she left, and Joan smiled quickly and winked.

The guards blindfolded her and pushed her out of the building. They walked for what seemed like miles before they ordered her to stop and wait here. Mikaela heard their footsteps retreat and after a few minutes of waiting she took the blindfolds off. They had left her in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road.

_How in the hell am I going to be able to find Sam? _Mikaela wondered as she began walking down the road.

She didn't stop until she came by a small lake and stopped to wash her hands. As she stood squatted down by the lake, her self-conscious buried her with worries.

_Can I really do this? _She wondered. _Can I even pull this off? Am I really going to let myself be welded by a good conscious or will vengeance come to my aid? _

Behind her the wind accelerated, as a car passed her. She heard the tires squeal and she knew the driver had now gotten out of the car, trying to come to her aid.

"Miss! Miss, are you alright?"

_Am I alright?_

Mikaela pulled out the picture of Sam that she had ripped in half. She ran her fingers over it lightly, before bending it into two and putting it into her pocket. She stood back up, put on her best smile and waltzed over to the stranger.

"I need a ride."

* * *

Thanks for reading and please don't forget to review!

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any part of the Transformers Franchise.

* * *

Chapter 12

It took FEMA three days to get water to New Orleans, and it took 2 days for Sam, Will, and Epps to reach American soil with all the Transformers.

"Next time," Sam growled, "we need a better evacuation plan."

"They're Transformers, Sam," Will argued. "It's not their fault they can't all fly."

"Regardless," Sam murmured getting into Bumblebee. "Where to?"

"Fig tells me that the police have handed the investigation over to the Pentagon," Will answered.

"The Pentagon it is, then," Sam agreed.

"From what we can salvage from the video," a Pentagon official explained to them after they arrived, "we're looking for a very feline Transformer."

"Ah hell, are we talking about Ravage _again?_" Epps asked. "That little bitch almost bit my arm off last time."

"No actually I'd feel a lot better if this _was _Ravage. At least we would know how to kill it," the official explained.

"What do you mean we don't know how to kill it?" Sam asked. "Why can't we kill it like any other Transformer?"

"Well, we a few days ago we discovered one of these strange human-like Transformers, and we order our soldiers to kill it, but it simply wouldn't die. In fact there's only one survivor from the attack."

"How many were originally out there?" Sam asked.

"Twenty-three."

"So one of these mass-killing human Transformers killed twenty-two soldiers? That's crazy!" Sam argued.

"What does this have to do with Ravage?" Will asked.

"Ah, yes, well the surviving solider was put into the hospital after that attack naturally, and interestingly enough he began to suffer from radiation poisoning."

Sam stopped, "What I have?"

"No," the official answered. "Your radiation poisoning according to the doctors, is of a different strand. That's how we knew they weren't Decpticons. And the team that swept the Hasbro building after the kills found detections of a different type of radiation all throughout the building, especially on the victims. We tested the radiation and the results have returned with an 85% match."

"This is unbelievable," Sam mumbled.

"Private Gormen is just up stairs awaiting interrogation if you'd like, Mr. Witwicky," the official told him.

"We'll deal with Gormen later. You said that they broke into Hasbro, is there anything missing?" Will asked.

"Yes, I'm glad you brought that up," the official addressed. "The motorcycle Acree is missing."

"Missing?" Sam asked. "And when the hell were they going to tell us?"

"Mr. Witwicky, please, I only had order to tell you. We believe that Acree was the attraction to these intruders."

'We've got to find her," Sam concluded.

"We'll have to be careful about it," Will agreed. "It could well be a trap. This could be Starscream or some random Decpticon with revenge."

"Our scientist do not find that likely," the official disagreed.

"And why the hell not?" Epps snapped. "They're the only people who have it out for us, and enjoy screwing with government every six to eight months!"

"It's too precise," Sam argued. "There's no way that Starscream would have been able to do all of this without being noticed by the public."

"So they hired some human help," Epps suggested.

"Sketchy for beings that hate humans," Will disagreed.

"So they'll kill the humans afterwards. They don't really care. All the Decpitcons care about is being on top," Epps argued.

"True," Sam said. "Was my office broken into?"

"Yes," the official confirmed, "and our analysts are quiet certain that your computer was hacked."

"Good," Sam said. He began to head for the elevator.

"Why is that good Sam?" Will asked.

"Because when someone hacks into my computer or Joan's computer, there's a virus built in to delete everything on the computer. When a whole computer 's information is deleted that sets off the system, and the backup files instantly start depleting into three other computers systems."

"What three?" Epps asked.

"I only know of two," Sam answered. "Joan knows where the third is. But there's one in town, in the NEST safe. I'll go to it, and see if what damage we're looking at."

"Alright, I'll go upstairs with Epps and deal with this Gormen character. Call us when you've found something."

Sam nodded and departed.

"Where's Gormen?" Epps asked.

"Follow me."

The official led them up another flight of stairs and into the interrogation room, where Private Gormen was held.

He was a small, shrivel looking man and he sat behind a wooden desk, nervous.

"Now you understand that if you lie to us, not only will you be tried and sentenced, but you will be destroying the peace of your country?" Will asked sitting across the man.

"Yes sir," Gormen replied. "I have no intention of lying."

"Doesn't keep people from doing it," Epps started. "Now tell me how did _twenty-three _army trained soldiers fall at the hands of _one _Decpticon?"

"It wasn't a Decpticon sir," Gormen replied. "I've seen the photos of those things, this thing…it was human."

"Tell us what happened," Will ordered.

"We were en route to the desert location. We were all about to receive our next stations, when the first truck ran right into the thing."

"It ran into it?" Will asked.

"Yes sir," Gormen answered. "The front first truck still has the imprints I'm sure. I saw them with my own two eyes. They we started shooting at the thing, but it just wouldn't die. It walked right up to through all of our fire. Then it picked up one of the guns and with accuracy that I've never seen before it shot at us all. We were trying to retreat. The reaming by then were only about ten or twelve. We all got back into one of the trucks and tried to drive out of there, but it ran after us."

"It _ran?_" Epps asked.

"Yes sir. As crazy as it sounds, the thing ran after us and jumped onto the truck."

"And how did you escape?" Will asked.

"It-It was eating on Perkins, when it just stopped. It stared me down for a minute and then it ran in a different direction."

"So it saw you, then," Epps clarified.

Gormen nodded.

"Excuse us," Will said and he and Epps temporarily left the room.

"So now we're dealing with a carnivorous human super-Decpticon," Will sighed as he and Epps walked down the hall.

He opened the door to an observing room, where a window looked into the interrogation room. It was also stocked with many computers humming loudly and several soldiers and Pentagon officials working behind them.

"Was he lying?" Epps asked one of them.

"No sir," one of the officials responded. "There was no indication of lying whatsoever."

"Here are the files," another officer handed Will.

"Look at these," Will said, thumbing through the file. "Here are Gormen's radiation test, and the radiation test of the building."

"This shit is unreal," Epps said shaking his head.

"Yeah, now we've got about three missing civilians, plus a new species on our hands," Will groaned.

"We should get back in there," Epps suggested. "I want to know more about this thing Gormen ran into."

But when they returned to the interrogation room, another officer was waiting for them and ushered them back out.

"We have another dilemma," the officer explained. "There's been an attack on the Rochester building, two blocks south of here—"

"Where the NEST vault is, we know," Will interjected. "Shit! Sam!"

"Yes," the officer said, "Mr. Witwicky is missing."

* * *

Thanks for reading, and please do not forget to review!

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	13. Chapter 13

Discailmer: Sadly, I do not own any part of the Transformers franchise

* * *

Chapter 13

Sam paced quickly through the garage outside of the Pentagon, before spotting Bumblebee closest to the exit.

"Anxious, buddy?" Sam asked once he gotten into the car.

"Something isn't right Sam," Bee explained as they drove off. "All of these deaths, it's…"

"Yeah, I can't disagree," Sam answered, understanding the loss of words that followed Bee's confusion. Something around here wasn't right. "The Pentagon thinks that it wasn't a Decepticon."

"I don't either," Bee responded. "It's too—"

"Close?" Sam finished.

"No, I was going to say, too good," Bee replied laughing slightly. "The Decpeticons are good enough at what they do, but whoever this new species is, they're _too _good. Where are we going Sam?"

"Turn left," Sam instructed. "I need to visit the NEST safe."

The ride to the Department of Governmental Science was a new building that had been constructed about a year after Mission City. The entire building was actually a safe house for all Top Secret NEST investigations, but served in the day as a building for many Government and Science relations.

On this day, there were hundreds of cameras outside the main entrance of the DGS building, awaiting the arrival of Monica Lintel, the director of DGS, who would be having a press conference on Sam's behalf about the events that had occurred. As far as the press knew, Sam was still in the Middle East working on an assignment for the Pentagon.

Bee drove through the back streets to arrive to the restricted South Entrance of the building where most employees entered. The guard at the door was quiet surprised to see the eminent Camaro, but he knew well to keep to conduct and simply replied, "Welcome Back, Mr. Witwicky," when Sam passed through.

Once inside, Sam ran up the steps to the top floor to his office. His floor was practically empty, save for a small brown desk where a young woman sat typing away on her computer.

"M-Mr. Witwicky," Sam's other assistant, Rebecca greeted, slightly flustered. "I wasn't expecting you today, but—"

"It's a surprise visit," Sam interrupted. "I need the access keys to door 27."

"Are you trying to access any computers in that room?" Rebecca asked pulling out the key.

"Yes, why?" Sam asked.

"Well, it's just, I got nervous," Rebecca admitted blushing. "I-I heard and saw what happened at Hasbro and—and I figured…."

"Where are the computers now?" Sam asked. "I need them."

"Your office. Monica came and upgraded the system—"

"I told her not to do that," Sam snapped. "It's too dangerous. With all the other electrical currents that run up and down this building, that new system is powerful, it'll knock out all the power one day."

"I told her that, but she was very insistent," Rebecca explained. "We're all—"

"Nervous," Sam finished. "It's alright. Why don't go home Rebecca. I can lock up here. I'm sure your husband wouldn't want you working for me right now anyway."

"Yeah, he's worried that you'll lose another secretary," Rebecca joked weakly. But through her smile, Sam could see her own fear.

"Well you better get out of here, before I do," Sam replied. Rebecca nodded and began packing her things. Sam was about to head down an adjacent hall to his office, when he stopped again.

"Where there any visitors?" Sam asked.

"Visitors?" Rebecca replied. "No, none that I've seen. There's been a lot on the other floors, with the conference and all, but no one out of the norm. Oh, expect the security guard from Hasbro, Mr—"

"Colson?" Sam asked. "Robert Colson was here? What did he want?"

"He said he was trying to fax some files, but the computer didn't work," Rebecca explained. "Something about your military ID. Apparently the Pentagon accidently put your picture on another officer's ID badge, or something like that. I can't remember the exact message."

Sam frowned, "Strange. It's on my desk, whatever he was trying to fax me?"

"Yes sir," Rebecca answered.

Sam nodded and headed back down the hall. He extended his right arm, still coarse from the sand dunes of Jordan, and slightly damp with sweat from the tension that's been gradually building and he opened the door.

The door was never opened fully, because Sam only saw a glimpse of the angry fiery mask of the explosion before it catapulted him nearly fifty feet back. He could dimly hear, Rebecca's screams somewhere in the distant. He probably would have been able to get up from the initial explosion. Sam had long gotten used to being blown up. But, there over a hundred computers alone on this floor, and with the added security software that Sam had _begged _to not be placed on his floor, there were explosions upon explosions erupting before Sam had time to think.

Working purely off of prior experience, he grabbed what he felt to be the arm of Rebecca and broke through one of the windows to the right of Rebecca's desk, falling fast and hard into a small man-made lake, just miles from the Potamac River.

Their hard fast entrance into the water seemed to split Sam's head open, and in a gasp for pain, Sam began to choke underwater and let go of Rebecca. All too soon, he felt something metallic grab him and raise him back up. Bumblebee had him dangling in the air, well in the view of photographers who were startled by the mass explosion from the top floor and the two figures that had seen jumping from it. Photographers who had never seen a Transformer.

"BEE!" Sam yelled as the photographers began clicking away.

Bumblebee, eyeing the shocked reporters, carried Sam to shore and transformed back into a Camaro. Sam then quickly got into Bumblebee and the two friends drove through the crowd and on to the highway.

"Lennox is going to kill me for that," Sam said as Bee picked up speed.

"I think it's the Pentagon's reaction that we should be more worried about," Bee answered. "Besides, there won't be any reporters left if we don't figure out who's been causing all of this disturbance."

"I need you to get me to an airport," Sam said.

"Why?" Bee asked.

"The explosion destroyed all of the computers upstairs. There were some files that I was looking for, and the only computer left that has those files are in—d"

"Let me guess," Bee cut in, "Tranquility."

* * *

Thanks for reading, and please don't forget to review!

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any part of the Transformers franchise.

* * *

Chapter 14

Even though he had yet to arrive in his hometown Sam knew that Tranquility, California had never changed, and he had trouble wondering if that was a good thing.

On one side, it was nice to know that everything was the way Sam had left it, from his own personal house to the Video store just two blocks from the garage that Mikaela used to work at. The familiarity was nice, but at the same time hindering.

Because everything was the way Sam left it, the memories of Tranquility still hit him like a ton of bricks. He remembered his parent's shock, the worry and the doctor's that had suddenly entered his life. He remembered the pain, the medication…

_Mentally Sam was just fine. He could see, hear and think, but physically was another story. His vocal cords had stopped working, and his muscles were weakening so much that he could barely lift his hand to write. He had very limited ways to express emotions to his parents and to his girlfriend that he was fine. _

_But Sam knew that he wasn't just fine. He knew that the doctor's were experimenting on him, because the radiation that he had been exposed to was like nothing anyone had ever dealt with…_

_"I want you know Sam that this is our last chance," Doctor Williams told him honestly. "If this surgery doesn't work, we're going to have to just let the contamination spread. Do you understand that Sam? Sam? Sam--"_

"SAM!"

Judy Witwicky flung her arms over her son, pulling him out of old memories. He smiled and hugged his mother back. It had been awhile.

"Oh sweetheart it's been so long!" His mother began. Judy Witwicky was known for her rants. Rants that could take hours, and sometimes Sam just watched in awe wondering how the poor woman never _breathed. _

"We heard," his father, Ron interrupted in a hushed voice as they walked out of the airport. "What's been happening?"

"I'll explain when we're in the car," Sam replied.

His parents walked him to their car and the minute they were inside and settled, Judy instantly stopped talking about Mojo and left the air clear for Sam to explain the latest.

"There was an attack at Hasbro," Sam began.

"Decepticons?" his mother asked.

"I don't think so," Sam replied.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Ron asked.

"Well seeing as though we don't know _what _attacked us, I think we'd all sleep better at night knowing at least who it was," Sam explained. "There like some sort of human autobot, from what's been described. In any event, I came back home because there's some files that I needed to check—"

"Files?" his mother complained. "Sam the world could be under an attack and you're worried about your file cabinet? We could have—"

"Mom!"

"Judy!"

"It's true!" Judy protested.

"Whatever these things are, they hacked into my computers at Hasbro. If I can figure out what they wanted then that's one step closer to figuring out who this is," Sam explained.

"Well you have heard about Mikaela right?" Judy asked after a moment.

"Yes," Sam replied his voice tight. He was going to find her.

"Good, because poor Abigail is worried out of her mind," his mother told him.

Sorrow sank deep into Sam's heart. Abigail Montgomery was the sweetest elderly women Sam had ever met—and probably one of the scariest.

"_He's going to kill me," a seventeen-year-old Sam hissed at his girlfriend over the phone. _

"_Oh please, Sam," Mikaela laughed. "You're just overreacting. He'll love you."_

"_Mikaela, be serious! You're his only child. He'll kill me!" _

"_Sam, stop it! You're an only child too, and your parents haven't tried to kill me yet." _

"_That's because it's __**you. **__Besides it's different with guys. Their mother's aren't that protective. With dad's in their daughter's its like walking through hell." _

"_That's nonsense Sam, besides you don't I'm worth it?" Mikaela asked. _

"_N-No…i-it's not that—it's just…" _

"_That's what I thought. Stop complaining and tell Bee to hurry it up. Dinner's almost done," Mikaela responded. _

"_You didn't cook again did you?" Sam teased. _

"_Shut up!" _

_Nearly twenty minutes later, Sam was scared shitless. He had faced the wrath of his mother. He had stood his ground with one of the biggest and baddest kids in his high school and most importantly he had faced giant alien robots. Huge, giant alien robots that wanted to kill him. But nothing was scarier than the look on Randall Banes face when Mikaela introduced Sam as her boyfriend. _

_Randall sat in a recliner chair in the living room, his face lightly greased and his dark hair pulled back, allowing his dark slit eyes to bore straight into Sam. _

"_What's yer name boy?" Randall asked, even though Mikaela had just told him. _

"_Sam," Sam squeaked. _

"_Sam? Sounds like a little schoolboy's name," Randall frowned. _

"_Dad," Mikaela warned. _

"_You work on cars, Sam?" Randall asked still eyeing Sam down ignoring his daughter. _

"_N-No sir. I just, um, call Mikaela."_

"_Oh so, you're just exploiting my daughter? Is that all she is to you just a cute little mechanic?" Randall asked him rising slowly. _

"_Dad!" Mikaela complained. _

"_Sit down." _

_The three of them turned to see a small, white haired woman carried pasta salad in a green bowl glaring at Randall. She set the bowl down on the coffee table and turned to face Sam. _

"_He looks like a nice boy dear," the woman said. "Much better than that—oh what was his name, Mickey?" _

_Mikaela flinched slightly at the old pet name before replying, "Trent, Grandma." _

"_Yes Trent," her grandmother agreed cleaning her glasses, before putting them back on and getting a better look of Sam. "He's a healthy young man. Aren't you?" She patted him gently on the cheek and Sam blushed. _

"_Grandma Abby," Mikaela whined slightly. _

"_Oh stop it," Abby interrupted. "I'm allowed to tease. It's part of the job. But you—" Abby turned back to Randall on the couch. "—will not be intimidating anyone. Understood?" _

_A frown set Randall Banes' face and he took a swing of his beer beside him and grunted in compliance. _

"_Good," Abby smiled. "However—d"_

_She proceeded to take off her glasses and looked Sam dead in the eye with an accuracy that was plain unnerving. _

"—_Randall didn't get sent away for nothing. And he sure hell had to learn it from somebody. I may be old but I still remember a few tricks from my day. But that won't be necessary will it dear?" Abby asked. Sam quickly shook his head no, and Abigail proceeded to the back of the house where, Sam assumed the kitchen was. _

"_In other words," Randall added picking up the pasta bowl, "you hurt our Mikaela. And we'll __**both **__kick your ass." _

_After Randall left the room Sam turned to his girlfriend and frowned. "'He'll love you, Sam!'" _

_Mikaela smiled apologetically. _

"Sam!" his mother snapped.

"What?" Sam asked. He noticed that they were now pulling up into his old driveway.

"I was trying to get your attention for ten minutes, but you were out in cyber space. Are you alright?"

Sam shrugged and stepped out the car. He followed his father into the house and quickly headed upstairs to his old room where the computer was located.

For a government computer there was nothing special about it, but for Sam that was the point. He needed a place that no one would think he would hide his Top Secret documents, but at the same time easy enough for him to access without too much hassle.

The computer took too long to load, or perhaps through the past few days, Sam's patience had just run thin. He was just about done with the loading process when his phone buzzed.

"Hello?"

"Sam!" Will yelled.

"Oh shit, yeah, hey," Sam answered.

"Yeah? Yeah is all you have to say to me when you take off? We thought you were **dead**!" Will snapped.

"I know. Look I'm sorry, I'm in Tranquility," Sam said.

"_Why _are you in Tranquility?"

"I needed to check these files," Sam explained.

"Sam what is so damn important about these files that you get to disappear off of the face of this earth?"

"I need to know what they were looking for," Sam replied.

"What if they just hacked your computer, just to hack it?" Will asked.

"I don't think so," Sam argued. "These people, whoever they are, they aren't stupid. They do things for a reason. I need to know what that reason is."

"Sam I want to know that reason too, but I'm also being logical. I don't think you're going to find anything missing."

"I have to check," Sam snapped. "I have to start somewhere."

"You want to start somewhere, Sam? Why don't you start by coming _back? _We need you here, not in Tranquility. Don't you want to find the others?"

"Of course I do!" Sam all but yelled. "Of course I want to find Joan, Sarah and Mikaela. Damnit, I am going to find them! But, I-I…"

Will was quiet for a moment before he finally responded. "Just don't take too long."

"I won't," Sam promised. "Here, the computer is uploaded. I'm looking through the files right now."

"And did you find anything?" Will asked.

"I'm not seeing anything—shit!"

Sam sucked on his finger where blood was beginning to drip out.

"Sam, what is it?"

"Nothing," Sam replied. "I just accidently slit my finger open. I'm not seeing anything."

"Alright then, perhaps you should come on home."

"Yeah, I will," Sam said. "I'll take the earliest flight out tomorrow."

Sam didn't stay long on the phone with Will. After he hung up, he stood up and gazed around in his room until he set eyes on an old picture of his seventeenth birthday party by the lake. The particular picture of was Mikaela smiling brightly with Keiara and in between the pair was Abigail Montgomery.

"Hey Mom," Sam called as he put on his jacket. "I'm going out. I'll be back in around seven."

* * *

Okay so, the last couple of chapters have only had about one or two reviews, so I'm just wondering if this is still something worth reading. All critisms is accepted. I just want your feedback, is all. Thank you for reading the lastest chapter and please, don't forget to review.

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Transformers franchise.

* * *

Chapter 15

Abigail Montgomery's home only took a few minutes by car, but on foot the walk was about a half-an-hour, if Sam was lucky. But for moment he didn't mind. He needed time to think and clear his head.

In his thoughts, Sam remembered the looks on his parents face when he told him that after nearly ten years of working with NEST, he was going to complicate his life even _more _by opening a toy business. To them and many of his colleagues the idea of a toy company seemed so unbearably _strange. _

"_Toys?" Epps had asked. "Like toy guns?" _

"_Are you going to make Barbie's?" young Annabelle had asked at the time. _

"_He better as hell not, or I'll be taking those merit badges away," Epps laughed. _

_Will sat silently eyeing Sam before finally responding, "Why Sam?" _

But of course to Sam, Hasbro made so much sense. He dreamt up the idea after Soundwave had caused destruction in Boulder City, Nevada just outside of the Hoover Dam. The town, although small had suffered mass destructions. Buildings lay wherever they pleased, hospitals were overflowing with patients, and although it would be easier to keep the small population quiet about the events that had occurred they were still _people. _They were still hurt and their homes destroyed, including a young little blonde boy who stood up amongst the crowd. Sam remembered that the child held tightly onto his toy robot, clutching it for dear life.

"_Are you alright?" Sam asked softly when he approached the young boy. The child gave him no answer but continued to squeeze onto his toy. _

"_Is your mommy with you?" Sam asked. The boy shook his head. _

"_You daddy?" _

_There was no response. _

"_Why don't you come with me, and I'll help you find your mommy and daddy," Sam suggested sticking out his hand. _

_The boy didn't take his hand immediately but instead replied, "It's okay. I got my R4. He's my robot and my bestest friend. He's all I'll ever need." _

A horn blared loudly into Sam's ears as he backed out of the street just in time to not get run over. His back pocket buzzed and although slightly shaken, Sam answered the phone.

"This is Sam."

"You still in Tranquility?" Epps asked on the other line.

"Yeah why?"

"Are you on 64th? By the Burger King?"

Sam frowned at the fast food restaurant staring him in the face and checked the street sign.

"How did you—"

"I suggest you back up before you get hit again."

Sam only processed the words seconds before another pair of headlights came his way, barely missing Mudflaps' bumper by inches.

"You've got to stop with that GPS shit, Epps. It's getting out of hand," Sam grumbled as he approached the smaller Autobot.

"Yeah, well Bee figured you'd need a ride, until he got there," Epps explained. "Lennox tells me the computer was a dead end."

"Yeah, it was. I'll be home tomorrow and I guess we can try this the old fashion way," Sam said.

"That way includes me kicking alien ass right?"

Sam laughed, "Doesn't it always?"

"Naturally. Look I should go," Epps said. "Unless you're ready to talk to Secretary Keller…."

"Oh no," Sam said. "Not ready for that headache just yet. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright man."

"I thought Autobots were supposed to help the humans, not kill them in car crashes," Sam mocked as he got into Mudflap.

"You've always been the exception Sam. Where to?" Mudflap asked.

"Make a left at this next light and we're going to coast for a while. We're going to Abby's."

Abby stayed in a small home just before the city limits. There was a silver mid-sized car parked in the driveway when Sam arrived and as he reached the door a small woman emerged.

"Hello, um, may I ask you are?" the woman asked.

"Oh, um, I'm Sam Witwicky. I'm a friend of—"

"Sam?"

Abby's voice cracked when she called his name and Sam never remembered her voice being so soft.

"Abby?" Sam asked letting himself in. The older woman sat in the family room knitting together what seemed to be a blanket. She was much more fragile and pale, wrinkles dominating her face.

"My, it's been some time since you've been around Sam. How have you been?" Abby asked. If there was one thing that age could wipe from her, and it was her bright smile.

"I'm alright," Sam answered. "What about you? How are you holding up Abby?"

"Oh, child I'm fine. I want to hear about you! Micky hasn't spoken much of you since high school, I'm afraid, so I don't know much about what's happened to you," Abigail continued.

"Well, um I'm working for the military now," Sam answered.

"The military? Under what sector? You know my son was a Marine. Died at duty, the poor thing," Abby said.

Sam's worried eyes never left Abby as he joined her on the couch. She refused to look at him, but eventually spoke up.

"Oh stop it Sam," she complained. "You're worse than Mikaela."

"What happened?" Sam asked.

"It's called cancer Sam," Abby answered. "We all get it every now and then. But don't you worry about me. I'll be just fine."

Sam put her small hand in his and was shocked of how cold it felt.

"Did you come with any news about Mikaela?" Abigail asked.

"I'm going to find her, I promise," Sam replied.

"Don't worry yourself with that, now," Abby protested. "You let the police handle this sort of thing."

"It's my responsibility," Sam insisted. "I'll bring her home, I promise."

Abby smiled brightly for a moment and whispered, "Sometimes I miss those days."

"What days?" Sam asked.

"They days when you two were happy."

Sam stayed with Abigail until she retired to bed.

"Who's Abigail?" Mudflap asked as they drove from the house.

"She's Mikaela's grandmother," Sam replied softly. "Where's the twin?"

"Scouting for Jolt. He's been missing since he drove from Mexico," Mudflap replied. "Are we heading back to your house?"

"Yeah."

The drive back to his house was nearly unbearably quiet. Mudflap only entertained him with one radio station that abruptly shut off as they waited for the streetlight to turn green on 64th avenue.

"Mud, what's going on?" Sam asked when the silence chocked the radio. The autobot did not verbally respond but instead the engine revved. Sam turned in his seat to see a police car two cars ahead of them.

"Oh relax, Mud," Sam said. "Not every police car is—"

Mudflap didn't listen to Sam's warning but instead broke out of the line and charged right for the police car.

"Mud, slow down damnit!" Sam yelled as he was thrown from side to side inside of the car.

Mudflap increased in speed coming closer and closer to the police car ahead of them.

"This is no time to get cocky," Sam growled at the youngest Autobot.

They chased the car into downtown Tranquility, about two blocks from the parking garage where Sam and Barricade had first met, until the police car suddenly stopped and made a wild U-turn while simultaneously transforming into the 17-foot robot, armed and loaded.

"Was _this _a part of your master plan?" Sam growled throwing the car in reverse. "Now he's chasing after _us._"

Barricade, with age and experience on his side, was a much better and much more skilled driver, so in half the time that it took Mudflap to catch up with him, Barricade was already on their heels.

"Remind me how far Fresno National Guard is from here?" Sam snapped.

"40 miles," Mud replied maneuvering between cars.

"Good connect me to them."

Sam reached for the emergency phone in the center compartment and plugged the phone into Mudflap's GPS system. The number began to dial itself.

"This is Officer Madison of the Fresno Nationa—"

"This is First Sergeant Samuel Witwicky of NEST. I'm in Tranquility. I'm being pursued by Barricade, N.B.E. 04. I'm in need of icing units and—"

"What types of shells sir?" the officer on the other line asked, his voice shaking slightly.

"You know the shells they used on Scorponok?" Sam asked.

"Y-yes sir."

"THOSE SHELLS!"

Sam threw the phone to the side and silently swore to himself that he was _never _going to let Mudflap drive him anywhere.

Feeling helpless, he un-buckled himself from the front seat and climbed into the back seat and pulled out an ARAI gun. He pulled out the shells from underneath the cushion and loaded the gun. Unrolling the back window, Sam leaned out the window and fired the gun in the direction of the engine. An earth shaking explosion followed the shot as the police car slowed down and Mudflap sped up.

"I don't think he liked that Sam," Mudflap said.

"Well it's your fault. Had you just taken me home, then we wouldn't be here."

"And just let him roam around Tranquility freely?" Mudflap argued. "He's capable of causing more damage than Soundwave."

Sam frowned but didn't argue. Mudflap sped to the outskirts of town, with Barricade beginning to advance, until the police car was able to ram right into Mudflap's bumper flipping them over.

The door swung open when Mudflap was able to flip back on his side, a clear invitation for Sam to get out of the car. With the ARAI in hand, Sam crawled from out of the car and reloaded the gun.

It wouldn't come to much use.

Barricade spent no time on Mudflap. He charged quickly at the smaller and younger Autobot, and with a few good swipes, was able to project Mudflap a good fifty yards right into a set of telephone poles.

Sam thought about running for a split second, but knew his chances wouldn't fare well. So he made the only choice he knew: charge.

With no protection, Sam aimed the ARAI right for Barricade's spark. He missed by several inches. The decepticon staggered for a moment, before lunging again at Sam trapping him against cold concrete.

Barricade's eyes bore deep into Sam, anger dominating every emotion as he transformed one of his arms into his spinning spikes.

_Damn, that's rough way to go down, _Sam thought as the blades approached him—right before Barricade was projected across the clearing. Sam looked up to see Mudflap standing up with one of his cannons aimed forward.

"Nice shot," grunted Sam, as he got on his feet.

"Talent," the younger Autobot smirked.

All too soon, the groans of metal shook the foundation as Barricade charged towards Mudflap, took and threw him back another fifteen feet.

Knowing experience would outlast ambition; Sam reached for the ARAI again, and angled it to aim in the general area of Barricade's spark.

By now, the decepticon had taken one colossal arm to hold Mudflap hostage and his other arm had converted back into the spinning blades. The screech of metal cutting metal was echoed by the sonorous thunder from the ARAI. Instead of staggering, Barricade briefly fell to the side by the impact and Sam took his chance and fired again.

When the decepticon's body had partially fallen over Mudflap's, Sam could hear the blades of helicopter above him and he could see the ice guns, beginning to freeze Barricade's body.

_Never on time, _Sam thought exasperated.

The Fresno Air National Guard transported them about forty miles out to their base. Once on solid ground again, Sam was escorted to into Sergey Hall where he met a tall, striking official with a set frown on her face.

"You must be Mr. Witwicky," the woman said offering her hand.

"That I am," Sam replied. "Where's Barricade?"

"N.B.E. 04 is currently isolated in the ice chamber. He's under complete surveillance. We don't want any repeats of the Hoover Dam incident with N.B.E. 01," the woman explained.

"Can he still communicate?" Sam asked.

"I'm sure it's possible," the woman answered, "as long as my men have not completed the freezing process."

"Good, I want to see him."

"I'm sorry Mr. Witwicky, I have orders from the Pentagon—"

"I don't care about your orders," Sam snapped. "I want to know why he was in Tranquility."

"He's been spotted there for weeks," the woman answered. "We were just waiting for an offense."

"You sound like you want to put him in jail," Sam mocked beginning to pace down the hall.

"Something like that yes," the woman frowned following him. "Now, _was _there an offense?"

"No," Sam replied, "unless you're counting the offense of an over-zealous Autobot."

"No, that's not exactly the offense that we were—"

"Excuse me solider," Sam interjected, grabbing a soldier, who was passing by. "Where are the freezing chambers?"

"Mr. Witwicky!" the woman snapped. "By order of the Pentagon—"

"Are you going to listen to the Pentagon, or the people who _tell _the Pentagon how to move forward?" Sam snapped at the solider.

The solider starred at both leaders for a moment, confused by which order to proceed with.

"Answer me," Sam ordered.

"Third basement sir," the solider replied.

"Carry on," Sam instructed and the solider departed.

"And what exactly do you plan on doing Mr. Witwicky?" the woman snapped following Sam as he headed straight towards the elevator.

"That's top priority Pentagon business," Sam snapped getting on the elevator.

"I _am _Pentagon business," the woman snapped, joining him on the elevator. "Marcia Cromwell, assistant to Secretary Keller. I was sent here to retrieve _you_."

Sam frowned at Keller's assistant and pressed the button to the third basement. "So what exactly did your orders entail?" he asked.

"To obtain Mr. Witwicky and transport him back to the Pentagon to be briefed with Capitan Lennox and Master Sergeant Epps."

"You make me sound like a criminal," Sam laughed dryly.

"Defying your orders is considered a criminal act," Cromwell snapped.

"You're Keller's assistant, you have to know the threat that this new species poses," Sam insisted. "I didn't say I was going to release him, I just want to talk to him."

"About _what_?" Cromwell growled.

"The constellations," Sam replied cheekily. "He's one of the oldest freaking organisms on the planet. He _has _to know something about these human-like—"

"Homobots. That's what they've been classified as," Cromwell corrected.

"I'm just glad you got rid of your damn acronyms," Sam snapped as the elevator doors opened to the freezing chambers.

"Stop the icing!" Sam ordered. Many of the workers looked puzzled until Marcia nodded in agreement and the icing began to cease.

"Won't you need a ladder of some sort Mr. Witwicky?" Cromwell snapped.

"He's got ears," Sam answered.

"Human scum," Barricade spat.

"Nice seeing you too," Sam replied, looking up. "The frozen look is good on you."

"Release me now, and I won't kill you slowly," the decepticon promised.

"You know, I'm not interested in your open-ended promises this time around," Sam replied. "I'm a bit more interested in some friends of yours."

"Release me!" Barricade roared shaking the foundation with his thunder.

"Where were you, last weekend?" Sam asked.

"Here looking for you and your little friends," Barricade growled.

"Wrong coast, buddy," Sam answered. "Why do you tell me what you know about some mutual friends of ours? They look like me, act like you, especially when it comes to the robot—"

"Amnabot scum," Barricade snapped.

"Amnabot?" Sam asked. "Now what is an Amnabot?"

"More than you can handle," Barricade promised. "Alone."

"Oh do explain."

"They're autonomous robot with a porcelain skin that allows them to take the appearance of a human," Barricade explained.

"And what is so lethal about these Amnabots?" Sam asked.

"I could tell you that Witwicky," Cromwell interrupted. "Stealth and size. They're smaller so they can have easier access to your equipment than a regular decepticon, not to mention they blend in a lot better."

"Aim," Barricade added.

"What about it?" Sam asked.

The robot frowned.

"Oh don't stop talking now," Sam said.

"In space, most likely under some special sort of surveillance, under terrible freezing temperatures is—"

"No," Cromwell snapped at Sam. "Absolutely not. Do not get any ideas Witwicky."

"—determined that Starscream is not located on any surface of your moon," Barricade finished.

"You mean Soundwave hasn't found him yet," Sam corrected.

"Release Starscream and you will have the allegiance of the Decepticons," Barricade promised.

"And why should I even consider that?" Sam asked. "What is so special about these Amnabots that you're willingly to fight with us?"

"Ravage."

"Ravage?" Sam asked.

"He's been off of our radar for nearly a month now," Cromwell interjected. "I just thought he was hiding…I didn't realize…"

"He's dead?" Sam asked. "Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

"Release Starscream and we will all have our revenge," the decepticon vowed.

"You can't possibly consider this!" Cromwell cried. "This _thing _has caused millions upon millions of collateral damage alone. And his _commander…_"

"What is the point?" Sam asked. "I mean, one way or another somebody is going to find Starscream and they're going to wake me up in the middle of the night, and we'll begin the war, _all over again_. The fighting is never going to end until one of us wises up and finally rips the other side into pieces. One way or another we'll be back at square A."

"Then we have an agreement," Barricade concluded.

"No," Sam corrected. "What we have is a common enemy. After this is all over, we're back to the old ways, and I will make sure that I have the pleasure of ripping you apart myself."

Sam sighed and began to make his way back to the elevator with Cromwell hot on his heels.

"Have you lost your _mind?_" she hissed. "You are not authorized to make such a compromise! We are talking about an organism who—"

"How long have you been at this job?" Sam asked.

"Five _years_," Cromwell snapped.

"Five years that's impressive," Sam answered in mock awe stepping into the elevator. "I've been at this job since I was _**seventeen**_in the eleventh grade. Trust me, lady, experience outweighs ambition."

Cromwell stuck her foot out before the elevator doors could close, causing the doors to reopen. She glared at Sam for a moment before stepping up to him and responding, "I'm not the one who's acting ambitiously, Witwicky. You are."

* * *

Well someone asked for longer chapters, and hopefully this met the standards. I will admit this is my first time writing anything si-fi related so I'm not sure how well I did on Mudflap vs. Barricade scene. Any suggestions for improvement would be greatly apperciated. Thank you for all of the earlier recommendations. And as always thanks for reading and please don't forget to review!

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any part of the Transformers franchise.

* * *

Chapter 16

A shot of pain awoke Mikaela from her slumber.

She wrestled around in her sheets for a moment, before remembering where she was. According to the brochure that she had picked up on her way in the night before, Mikaela was in a small hotel on the Pennsylvania-Maryland border. She pulled out the ripped photograph of Sam. His innocence, his laughter, it had all once brought her so much joy. Would she ever be able to any of it back? Surely he would hate her for this ploy, but for how long? She had her freedom now, why shouldn't she just run for it while she still had the chance?

A loud knock interrupted Mikaela's train of thought followed by the soft hum of a woman on the other side of the door, "House cleaning!"

Mikaela scrambled to open the door and let the woman in. She then grabbed her belongings and left the room headed for the front counter on the first floor.

After checking out of the hotel, Mikaela used the town map found in the brochure to guide her to a local car garage. Ted & Murray's was a small place, with very few cars on the lot. Most of the cars dated to long before Mikaela was born, but there were a few potentials, including a purple 2004 Mazda RX-8.

She wandered first through a row of old 1956 Volkswagens, just to humor herself. The Mazda was her preferred choice, but she knew that she'd probably have to put out a little more than she was willing. As she approached the car, another wave of pain shot up her neck. Mikaela gasped and grabbed the back of her neck by reflex. Unlike in the morning, when the pain was enough to wake her from sleep, this time her ears began to ring and as she bent over, trying to regain herself, she could have sworn an engine rumbled in response.

Mikaela looked up. Right in front of her was the Mazda. She starred at the car and ran her fingers over it lightly.

"Can I help you ma'am?"

She turned to face, whom she presumed to be the owner, standing behind her clad in stained faded overalls and cargo boots.

"Yeah," Mikaela replied. "Where did you get the Mazda?"

"Peculiar little thing, that Mazda," the dealer replied. "Came in about a couple days ago. Crazy man was driving saying he couldn't take it anymore. Said the poor thing was possessed. All it needs is a little TLC."

"Possessed?" Mikaela asked. "How so?"

"Man didn't really explain himself. He was off in a hurry and sold her real cheap. But lately she's been chirping, just a bit. And last night my wife Margaret swore she heard the engine rumbling. But it's probably just a few screws that need tuning."

"How much?" she asked.

"Well I was hoping to fix her up before I put her on the market," the man replied.

"It's okay, I'm a mechanic. I'll be able to handle it."

"A mechanic, really? Where from?"

"Just outside of Phoenix, Arizona."

"Arizona? I've never been outside of the great state of Pennsylvania myself. Well if you really insist, I guess I can give her to ya for about 10 thousand."

"Ten grand it is."

The Mazda drove well, too well for a '04 in Mikaela's perspective, but finally being free kept her mind from dwindling on the fact for too long. One she had gotten behind the wheel her headache finally calmed and Mikaela was able to focus on getting back to Washington. She knew Sam wouldn't precisely be there, but it would be the first step to finding Sam.

She was halfway on her drive to Arlington on Interstate 270, driving through pouring rain, when she began to lose control of the car. She tried to grab the spinning wheel, but the car instead directed her off of Interstate 270, onto an exit. It wasn't until she was on this new exit, did Mikaela realize that the car drove better _without _her control.

Removing her hands from the wheel, and her foot from the gas, she inwardly groaned as the car took over driving. Her gut knew that if this vehicle was an Autobot, it would have shown itself much sooner, which meant…

The Mazda halted in the middle of the road, sending Mikaela forward slightly. She looked up to see another vehicle, this one an Audi R8 parked right in front of her.

Mikaela took a deep breath and slowly stepped out of the Mazda. _No wonder the owner said it was possessed. I've been driving around with a decepticon. _

When she was fully out of the car, the Audi's engine roared and sped towards her running right into the Mazda as it transformed into a decepticon that Mikaela hadn't seen in a long time—Shockwave.

However, the reunion was put on hold by the flashing headlights quickly advancing her way. Even though she knew the attempt would be futile, Mikaela turned around to run from the silver car, when another set of headlights flashed in the opposite direction. She ducked just in time for the speeding blue Chevy Volt to transform into Jolt, as he collided with the oncoming decepticon.

A hand stuck out from the metal grinding metal and the crashes of two vehicles, as someone pulled her into safety among the bushes.

"Are you alright, Mikaela?"

Mikaela looked up to see a tired Sarah Lennox next to her. At the sight of someone familiar, Mikaela wrapped her arms around the woman and nodded softly.

"ENOUGH!"

The tenor roar was certainly not Jolt's, and Mikaela and Sarah scrambled up quickly to see where the fight had led to.

Shockwave stood in the middle of Jolt and the other decepticon that Mikaela had yet to remember. All three of them stood armed and ready. Shockwave was the first to straighten up.

"We've come in peace," he said solemnly. Jolt nor the other decepticon moved from their defensive positions. "We have orders from Barricade to unite with our foreign brothers to defeat the common enemy."

Jolt's cannons hummed dangerously and the decepticon on the other side of Shockwave finally lowered his weapons.

"I think he's telling the truth," Mikaela intervened.

"Stay out of this," Jolt advised.

"If they were against us he would have killed me earlier," Mikaela continued.

"Proof," Jolt spat.

"There will be a gathering," Shockwave continued. "The boy is with Barricade and they are both on their way to meeting Prime."

"Sam?" Mikaela asked. "Sam made this deal?"

"We must leave now," Shockwave insisted. "For allegiances sake, the human girl can ride with me and you will see that she will not be harmed. Come, there is little time before the Amnabots attack again."

"Amnabots," Sarah whispered. "They must be the things that attacked at Hasbro. I wonder what they've done to the decepticons. I've always that they'd do anything to have the upper hand on us."

"I don't know," Mikaela replied. "But I guess the old saying is true: The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"Mikaela," Sarah called out to her as she headed towards Shockwave, who had now transformed back into his Mazda mode. "That saying only works when you know who your enemy really is."

Mikaela nodded slightly and she could swear that the ripped photograph of Sam burned in her back pocket.

* * *

Thanks for reading, but please please don't forget to review!

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any part of the Transformers franchise.

* * *

Chapter 17

The air in London was crisp and did not rest well with United Kingdom NEST officer, Graham Marsden. The native Britain had been raised to avoid secrecy as much as possible, so to be called out of the middle of his house late in the night to the NEST base wasn't exactly his cup of _tea. _

When he arrived at the NEST base, he drove around until he found the Medical building, which was the only building with lights still on. Inside, he met Ratchet who was hunched over an enlarged microscope that was hooked up to an even larger dual-screened computer.

"What it is now Ratchet?" Marsden asked.

"I believe it is time," Ratchet announced.

"Time?"

"Yes, I am beginning to decipher the coordinates found in my last communications with Optimus," Ratchet explained.

"Communications? I thought you said that Prime was missing?" Marsden asked.

In truth, when he had gotten _that _specific call, he couldn't have left his bed any quicker. It had been only hours after they had gotten official word that Witwicky, Epps, Lennox, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, and Ironhide had all safely arrived in the US. Ratchet and Prime had opted to say behind one additional day for the _Queen Elizabeth_ class aircraft carriers to transport them over.

"_What do you mean he's missing?" Graham yelled, making his entrance known inside of the NEST headquarters. _

"_Prime was to be on the docks this evening to make sure that everything would flow smoothly for tomorrow departure," one of the directors explained. "Our personnel confirm that he was indeed at the sight, however he has not been in contact since." _

"Indeed Graham, he is," Ratchet continued. "But I'm watching the behavior of Prime from video recordings of the base. I've found that many times humans unconsciously leave a trail of clues to their destination, before they've gone missing. I wonder if the same trait has rubbed off on some of us during our time here."

"Maybe," Graham answered. "But I still think that we need to catch up with everyone back in the states. Especially since Bluestreak is now officially missing. I swear, the next person who disappears in getting their death wish."

"No need to be violent," Ratchet responded. "Graham will you please enter the increase the computer frame on this visual."

Graham nodded and stepped up to the large keyboard and computer screen. He tapped in the password to unlock the computer and hit the enter key. The screen blinked for a moment before returning to the log in screen.

"That's strange," Graham said. "The computer won't unlock. Let me try this again."

He re-typed the password and struck the enter key, only to have the same result. Frowning he entered the password for a third time and struck the enter key harder and this time the computer hissed and blacked out completely.

"There must be a problem with one of the circuits," Ratchet reasoned as Graham crouched down to find the master plugs for the computer. He had yet to even spot the plugs before power escaped the room and darkness filled their surroundings.

Graham swore. "I'll get the emergency generator."

He fumbled for a moment in the dark, before Ratchet provided light and he was able to find the emergency generators, but they came to no aid when he turned them on. He hit the button several times before he heard configuration of metals as Ratchet transformed into his Medic mode.

They drove out around the base, and although it was empty a dense sort of eerie character had fallen upon the area that Graham had come to know so well. He stepped out of Ratchet near the flag pole in the center of the base and gazed around looking for the "bread crumbs" that Ratchet was talking about earlier.

"What do you suggest for our next move," Ratchet asked.

"I think we should hit the port and see if anyone—"

Graham's question of whether anyone was still at the base and effected by the blackout was answered as he felt his shirt try to jump from his skin by the mere force of engines form above. Marsden looked up to a very American aircraft descending.

"That's a blackbird," Ratchet told Graham.

"I know just which one too," Graham replied running to the aerial runways.

When he arrived, Jetfire had landed on the strip and Ratchet was already rolling in. Graham followed his lead and when he entered inside of the jet he instantly went right for the radio communications.

"What's going on Jet?" Graham asked.

"Just following orders," Jetfire replied.

"Orders? Who's orders?"

"Prime's obviously," Jetfire grumbled. "He's the only reason I would fly _back _out here just to go _back _to America."

"And when did you get these orders?" Graham asked.

"He mentioned you'd inquiry about that and he insist that particular information isn't important, but what is important includes getting you back to the States and leaving Bluestreak alone."

"Bluestreak? You know about Bluestreak?" Graham asked as Jetfire's engines began to hum.

"All I know is that he's doing the exact same thing that I am," Jetfire answered as he began to lift off of the platform.

"And what is that exactly?" Graham snapped. "I never said I was leaving London."

"Following orders, sir."

"And are there any orders for me?" Graham asked eyeing Ratchet suspiciously. The British officer now wondered who else had secret orders.

"Yes," Jetfire replied. "As you humans would say, 'Sit back and enjoy the ride'."

* * *

It's been a really long month for me, and sadly its only getting longer. And naturally a case of writer's block doesn't help too much. So in hopes that I might find some inspiration, I'm curious to see what you think should happen next. Any other ideas would also be apperciated and hopefully my creativity will come off of vacation and help me finish this story. Otherwise, thanks for reading and please don't forget to review!

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any part of the Transformers franchise.

* * *

Chapter 18

_Virginia_

The direction of where they were going wasn't exactly clear, but Mikaela sat silently in Shockwave, allowing Jolt to lead them to their destination. What she did know was that a short while ago, Jolt, who led the pack of three, sharply made a turn off of the highway and was now leading them down a strange and beaten path.

Trees and moss invaded their new course gangling over them like skyscrapers of the jungle. Mikaela could hear Shockwave's engine growl in distaste as it plowed through the muddy earth below. Just as the vegetation began to settle down, Shockwave abruptly stopped.

"He's stuck," Shockwave grumbled.

Mikaela looked forward to see Jolt ahead of them, also stopped, with his engine roaring. Shockwave let him rumble in the mud for a moment before starting his own engine and violently charging at the back of the Autobot. And although Mikaela was sure that Jolt did not particularly appreciate the gesture, the force had at least been enough to get him back moving.

When they finally exited the miniature jungle, they rode up a plateau, where on the top Sideswipe, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Skids, Sergeant Epps and Captain Lennox were all waiting for them. Well waiting for Jolt maybe, but at the sight of Shockwave and the silver Audi, whom Mikaela learned to be Sideways, the four Autobots and the two military men instantly went into defense mode.

It was only until Sarah emerged from Jolt and Mikaela from Shockwave, did Epps and Lennox lower their weapons, but Bumblebee and the others remained armed.

"Move Mikaela," Bee ordered aiming his cannon at Shockwave, who had yet to raise a weapon in defense.

"Bee wait," Mikaela instructed.

"What the hell is this?" Lennox asked as the two women joined the dysfunctional semi-circle.

"It's an alliance, Will," Sarah explained. "The decepticons want to **help **us not hurt us. Shockwave and Sideways are here under orders from Barricade."

"An alliance?" Epps grumbled. "Why does this have Witwicky written all over it?"

As the words left his lips another rumble of engines could be heard and Mudflap's ablaze orange coat pierced the night. He was followed by the rumble of another vehicle—Barricade.

At the sight of the police car, still branded with his motto of "_To punish and enslave", _tension thickened, even when Sam emerged from Mud.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear," Epps mumbled under his breath.

"Sam, you've got ten seconds to tell me why I shouldn't let Epps blow your head off," Will growled.

"Because I really like my head," Sam sassed. "It's quite attractive."

"Sam," Epps seethed.

"Alright relax," Sam snapped. "I mean it all of you, put the guns away. This is a no fire zone. C'mon Bee put the cannons down." Sam starred long and hard at his guardian before he finally yielded to Sam's request. Sideswipe and Skids followed after Bee, leaving Ironhide the only one who refused to comply.

"Look I've already accepted that I'll probably be fighting against the decepticons for the rest of my life. But these Amnabots are a species that is a threat to everyone. And the only way we're going to be able to defeat them is if we all work together."

"I don't know about this Sam," Will replied. "What's keeping them from turning on us? We don't need two enemies."

"Revenge," Barricade answered, "is a rather _persuasive _thing. We will help to destroy this new enemy. They are more biologically advanced than anything we've encountered."

"How so?" Lennox asked. "What makes these things so dangerous?"

"I explained to your friend here, that the Amnabots are lethal because they have impeccable aim. The real threat of the Amnabots is the fact that they are difficult to kill."

"How difficult we talking?" Epps asked.

"In their evolution, the Amnabots have managed to form a specialized vitamin that can quickly repair damaged organs."

"So you're saying these things really just _don't _die," Will groaned. "So how the hell are we supposed to kill them?"

"Amnabots can only be killed by intimate contact, in which you have to somehow freeze their _curatio nutrimens_."

"Freeze?" Lennox asked. "As in some sort of injection?"

"The brain and the heart of the Amnabot must be inactive for the vitamins to freeze," Shockwave elaborated.

"Is there any good news?" Epps grumbled.

"All Amnabots families are connected to a single spark. Once you find that spark, you've destroyed at least thirty men."

"So what we need to do is find these Amnabot family heads. I'm guessing there's no list with all of that information written down."

"The command center," Barricade suggested.

"I can take us there," Mikaela interjected. Sam looked up. Engrossed in Barricade's explanations, he had yet to see his ex standing across the semi-circle, bruised and tired. At once emotions rushed through him, confusion, happiness, joy. He wanted to touch and hold her and tell her things thoughts that he'd locked away for years. Their gazes locked for a brief second, taking away all the worry and pain that seemed to occupy his daily life. And he knew that there would be a time for more in depth discussion, but now was not the time.

At her suggestion, the light bulb also seemed to click on for Epps, Sarah and Will, who remembered that the young woman had been missing.

"You know where Joan is?"

"And Anna!"

"Are they still safe?"

"Where are they?"

"Let's let Mikaela breathe," Jolt suggested. "In due time, I am sure that she will be able to explain about those specific details, but I think it is best that we start on course for this command center."

"This is not right," Ironhide disagreed, finally speaking. "Prime would not allow this allegiance."

"You may not have much of a choice."

The group turned to see Graham emerging from the bushes and behind him, Ratchet and Jetfire, towering over the trees.

"Prime is gone."

* * *

_East Syracuse, New York_

For days, Keiara Reid had contemplated about the best way to get out of this hell-hole of a hotel. But as each day passed, more men seemed to arrive at the Embassy, watching her every move. In the beginning she tried to not let this bother her too much. At least she could still spy on the security guard Colson. From her midnight walks, she could tell that the man had no more visitors, but when she woke this morning she found him at the check-out desk.

"Colson," she greeted in mock-politeness. "Leaving so soon?"

"Ms. Reid. It's a pleasure to see you again," Colson replied. "I'm afraid I have to. My job is in shambles and my boss is actually asking me to fly out to Tranquility this weekend, for some executive orders."

"Tranquility? You must work for Witwicky's company," Keiara said.

"Indeed," Colson replied flashing the security badge that she had to return back to him the other day. "And thank you for finding it. I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost it permanently."

"Of course."

"Well, I've got work to attend to. Hopefully you'll enjoy the rest of your stay," Colson said as exited through the entry doors.

Keiara nodded and watched him leave.

_Now what business does he have in Tranquility_, she thought as she turned back to her hotel room, getting on the elevator. She got off on the first stop, and made a left to her room. It wasn't until she had stopped at where her door should be that, Keiara realized that she was on the wrong floor. As she turned around to head back towards the elevator, she spotted the door for room 711 ajar and the house keeping cart set in the middle of the entry way.

Keiara slipped quietly into the room, as the maid moved through the kitchen, which had a connecting door to room 712. She hid behind the closet door and waited until the maid went into the next door room before she looked around.

_This is ridiculous, _she thought to herself. _What am I doing in here? _

"Si vous aimez de Pina Colada et de tomber sous la pluie," the maid sung.

Keiara ducked underneath the bed as the maid came back into the room, making her finishing touches on the room.

"Ah, the poor man left something," the maid mumbled to herself as she busied around.

She didn't spend much more time in the room after that and left still humming Jimmy Buffet's Escape in Spanish.

When the maid had finally left Keiara stood up, ready to leave when she caught the eye of the object that Colson had left. It was a small GPS system that was blinking. When she picked up the object she found that it was written in a strange language that she'd never seen in her life. Having a bad feeling about Colson, and all that he represented, Keiara held onto the system and left the room.

That night, intent on busting out of the hotel, Keiara climbed out of her window and began her descent down the side of building. Thankfully, she had time to work this idea out, and had changed rooms to the second floor, and next to the vine that ran up and down the building.

She ran towards the nearest bushes and used them as her shield from her watchers that were currently roaming outside of the Embassy. Once she made it across the road, the sweet smell of freedom filled her lungs. She had finally made it out of there.

But her victory would be cut short.

Even though she checked every corner as she walked down the streets, she still didn't manage to hear the footsteps of her silent follower.

"Lost?"

A woman's hand had firmly grasped her shoulder and spun Keiara around.

"No, not exactly," Keiara responded slowly trying to move from the woman's grasp. Her grip on intensified.

"I think you have something of mine," the woman continued, eyeing the purse that Keiara carried where the GPS was hidden.

"Well seeing as we don't know each other, I'm too sure how that's possible," Keiara responded. "Now if you don't mind—"

The woman twisted Keiara's arm, slamming her body against a nearby concrete wall. "Now why don't you listen to me—"

"Hey!"

Behind them was a nearby cop emerging from his vehicle. "Is there a problem here?"

"Define problem," the woman purred, letting go of Keiara and advancing towards the official.

Keiara gasped in pain and barely saw as the stranger's right arm configured into what looked like a—

"Holy shit," Keiara hissed as she ran, from the woman and the officer who had now been hit in the chest from the explosion. Even at her fastest speed, the stranger was only advancing on Keiara, and her right arm—now what looked to be a lethal cannon, was destroying everything in sight. Keiara made a wild right turn into the street, sliding through vehicles, until one vehicle, a blue Nissan 370Z sped right towards her, forcing Keiara to dodge to the woods. But instead of coming after her like, the stranger continued course right to towards the car, aiming its cannon right towards it. The car flipped backwards, and morph in mid-air. There was an earth shaking eruption from the once Nissan, and when the smoke cleared Keiara could see that the stranger on staggered slightly before walking forward again.

Keiara gaped at the superhuman woman as she stalked towards the—there weren't words to process what this stalker was aiming towards. The monstrosity was so huge; she wondered how the woman had made it alive.

The alien woman, because there was no other way to describe her, raised her right cannon arm and shot a single caliber, with a force that sent the robot back several feet.

Keiara, like many of the innocent drivers on the highway, stood between shock and awe and fear of the two beings, cramped on the outskirts of the vegetation.

The larger robot had now decided to try a more personal approach. It charged and collided straight into the smaller woman, sending her several feet in the air. The single force would have sent her back, by eyesight, a good twenty, thirty feet, but the robot raised one of its cannons as the woman flew and aimed it right at her, adding an addition ten to twenty feet to her flight.

Keiara slowly began to rise from the ground, glad that the woman was far enough for the moment being. She looked around at the mess that the two had created. Cars were in aligned in a complex maze and people were ducking behind their vehicles. Walking into the road, Keiara stopped right in front of the robot and watched carefully as if transformed back into the Nissan 370Z and as a response the door to the car slowly opened waiting for her to get in.

* * *

Okay, so I felt bad about the short chapter last time and decided to combine two ideas into one chapter. Hopefully you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading and please don't forget to review We're only one away from 50! =)

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any part of the Transformers franchise.

* * *

Chapter 19

The idea that tonight had simply been "a long night" was the biggest understatement of her existence. Things were beginning to spiral out of her control faster than she could handle and then there were of course the ethical decisions that were still hanging over her head.

But two things in particular were currently making Mikaela dizzy. The first was the disappearance of Prime.

"He left no note," Graham had explained. "He was supposed to report to the docks on base the night before he was set to depart with Ratchet back to the States but they couldn't find him the next morning. And then two days later, Bluestreak goes missing."

There were several things wrong with Prime disappearance. First and foremost it made negotiations with the Decepticons incredibly difficult. Prime's opinion of the alliance would have been the influencing factor, whether it had been yay or nay. Secondly, Prime's leadership held a certain amount of assurance embedded into every word and every movement, and without it everything seemed increasingly foreign and tense. But most importantly, his disappearance was incredibly abnormal. It was completely unlike Optimus to simply disappear, which caused much debate amongst the Transformers. The Decepticons were of the opinion that the Amnabots somehow must have taken Prime hostage, since he would never just abandon his team. But the Autobots—particually Ironhide—were of the belief that something else was going, that the whole picture wasn't being presented. It left the two groups at odds with each other, until Lennox called for an end to the debate and rest for everyone.

However, although it made much more logical sense to be worried about Optimus' disappearance, that was not the issue that was most troubling. No, that privilege went to that nerdy, yet devilishly handsome military officer turned toymaker.

When she had finally laid her eyes on Sam when they were in the semi-circle, the moment had been completely surreal. After ten years she was finally setting eyes on the man who never left her dreams at night. He stood no more than three feet from her, but at the same time was still as distant as before. The moment had been too short, interrupted by Graham's arrival, but now in the silence of the night, Mikaela was creeping back up to the top of the plateau where she had seen Bumblebee and Sam rid up hours ago. She walked as quietly as she could in the darkness, feeling her way blindingly.

"Who's there?" Sam voice called out when she reached the top. Bumblebee's head lights flashed on and Sam came into view. He was sitting on the wet grass leaning against the passenger side door.

"Hello Mikaela," Bumblebee greeted.

"Hey Bee," Mikaela smiled back. She stopped in front of the camaro and realized how long it had been since she, Sam and Bumblebee had been together.

The moment was strangely awkward, until Mikaela realized that it wasn't necessarily awkward—it was just _quiet. _

"No corny theme music, Bee?" Mikaela smiled.

"Sam informed me some time ago that he hated it when I played my radio, therefore I usually do use that form of communication. But for old times' sake…"

The lyrics to Mary J. Blige's Be Without You sang through the night.

"At least you've finally gotten some taste Bee," Mikaela smiled.

"I pride myself in that," Sam interjected standing up from the ground and walking towards the front of the car. "Hey buddy, why don't you give Mikaela and me a minute?"

"Certainly," Bumblebee replied as he backed up still playing his radio.

Without Bee's headlights, the darkness of night fell on them rapidly and Mikaela could no longer see Sam's face.

"I'm right here," Sam said softly grabbing on to her hand. "Here let me take you somewhere with more light."

With her hand firmly in his, he led her down the plateau in the opposite direction that Bumblebee had taken. As the pushed through the vegetation, Mikaela tried to strike up a conversation.

"So toys, huh?"

"Toys?" Sam asked.

"Hasbro," Mikaela explained. "It's pretty impressive."

"Oh yeah, thanks," Sam replied. "It was just something I felt like I needed to do. Besides, I'm hoping that I won't have to kill Decepticons for the rest of my live. I mean I know it sounds ridiculous now, but the idea of retiring from…"

"It's understandable," Mikaela cut in. "It makes sense Sam. You've given every child their own personal Bumblebee. Now every little boy has a little guardian."

Sam smiled in the darkness, even though Mikaela couldn't see it and squeezed her hand tighter.

"Thank you," he said softly before leading her deeper into the woods.

Finally they reached a clearing where the moon shined luminously, illuminating everything in this small quarter of the forest. With the new light, Mikaela was able to see Sam all over again. He was taller than what she remembered. He towered her by nearly a foot now. His muscles were nowhere did not compare well to the likes of Epps or Lennox, but his lean body shape was a significant upgrade from the scrawny kid she had dated in high school. His hair was shorter and face had leaned out into a stronger, more sophisticated appearance. All of those improvements however, weren't apart of her Sam; the old Sam that used to make her laugh and smile. The one who looked beyond her physically appearance and found her and helped her realize how amazing she was.

Sam stood in the middle of the clearing and ran a hand over his head. He turned from Mikaela not facing her, and not knowing where to begin.

"I heard that you had visited the Hasbro building," Sam started.

"Yeah," Mikaela replied. "I came in looking for you, but Keiara wouldn't let me come anywhere close."

"I wasn't in town," Sam said. "What made you come? I mean, I was there earlier. And you **refused **to see me. I thought that maybe after all these years…"

"Sam," Mikaela began. "I'm sorry. And I don't even know where to begin. I've done so much to hurt you and to hurt myself—I just…I came because I wanted to be happy again. I wanted to smile and genuinely mean it and I wanted to fill what seemed like this void that's been growing since—well since high school."

Sam stuck his hands in his pockets and nodded.

"The thing is Mikaela," Sam said, "I can't. I can't do this. Not because I don't want to, but…do you remember the hospital incident?"

Mikaela nodded slowly.

"I've already forgiven you for that Mikaela. We were eighteen, it was okay to run. But after that I've thrown myself into the work for the Pentagon, so the life I live right not just isn't suited for a relationship of any kind. In fact if I thought you'd let me I'd send you back to Tranquility right now."

"Well at least one of us has a decent grasp of the other," Mikaela mumbled.

" 'Kaela it's not that I don't want to," Sam began reaching for her, but she stepped back.

"Sam, please," Mikaela said. "It's okay, really I understand. I mean there were no guarantees in flying out here. I mean this wasn't exactly the reunion I had in mind."

"Mikaela, I swear, it's not you it's—"

"Please, whatever you do," Mikaela cut in, "do not finish that sentence, because not only is that the most overused line in the lexicon of rejections, the fact of the matter is that it **is** me. This was my fault."

* * *

WHoo hoo! 50 reviews! =) Thanks to spedclass for my 50th review. Cookies for you! ;) and you too anonymous. As always thanks for reading and please don't forget to review!

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any part of the Transformers franchise.

* * *

Chapter 20

Keiara stood very still as the car drove itself.

It was a hard concept for her to wrap her head around, but in the back of her head something told her that she wasn't the first to come in contact with these interesting automobiles. No, in fact she faintly remembered a time in high school when she had asked Sam for a favor…

"_Witwicky!" Keiara called through the parking lot. "Witwicky, Wit—Sam!" _

_Sam turned wildly to see one of Mikaela's friends quickly advancing towards him—and not just any friend, but her __**best **__friend. Sam gulped nervously. Their first meeting had not gone as he had imagined it. He had always imagined that he had a much better control of his chattering teething and shaking hands. It was just safe to say that he had made a complete fool of himself. He was hoping they wouldn't have to repeat that incident._

_In appearance, Keiara seemed rather harmless. She was a short girl, dark baby doll hair and smile that could charm any. But it was in her eyes where the danger started. She had sharp eyes that saw through any and all bullshit and Sam wasn't sure he was ready to spend anytime with the quick witted ice princess alone. _

"_Hey Keiara, what can I do for you?" Sam asked. _

"_My boyfriend's car broke down at the University," she replied, "and I saw your canary Camaro from the Biology building. I was wondering if you could drop me off at Mikaela's. I'm supposed to be doing some studying at her place." _

"_So, you want me to take you to Mikaela's?" Sam asked. _

"_Yeah, is that a problem?" _

"_Well, it's just that you're—"_

_Sam's sentence was drowned by the blaring of Outkast's Roses from Bumblebee's speakers, "—__the reason for the word witch (witch)! __I hope she's speeding on the way to the club/Trying to hurry up to get to some/ Baller or singer or somebody like that/ And try to put on her makeup in the mirror/ And crash, crash, crash.. into a ditch!" _

_Sam went red and quickly fumbled with the keys trying to turn off Bee's radio before it went any further. _

"_Yeah, Mikaela mentioned something about your strange radio," Keiara noted, frowning slightly. _

"_Yeah, it's just an old car," Sam explained nervously. _

"_It's an 2007 Camaro Sam," Keiara reminded. _

"_Right—right. I mean, new body, but engine wise—y'know it's crap," Sam stuttered. _

"_Uh huh," Keiara replied, not completely convinced. "So about that ride?" _

"_Yeah sure," Sam said. "Hop on in. Just excuse the radio, it's a bit crazy." _

"_Does that make me crazy?" Bumblebee's speakers blared again. "Does that make me crazy? Poss—"_

"_Sorry," Sam stuttered again after he cut off the radio. Keiara simply nodded. _

"_You should get Mikaela on this car," Keiara said nonchalantly. "I know she'd love a new project." _

"_N-no yeah, she would," Sam agreed. "She's—"_

"_Sam?" Keiara interrupted staring at his gears. "Did that just move?" _

_She was pointing to the gear shift which had somehow slipped from park into drive. _

"_What? No! No. Um…that's just, it was always there," Sam lied. _

_Keiara frowned slightly and leaned forward looking out Sam's window. _

"_W-what now?" Sam asked. _

"_It's just I think I see my boyfriend. I'll get a ride from him, if you don't mind," Keiara answered. _

"_Oh, no not at all," Sam replied. _

_Keiara smiled and stepped out of the car and made her way to her boyfriend's vechile about ten cars down. "Babe!" she called. _

"_God Bee, what is your issue? I know you don't particularly like her but that's Mikaela __**best **__friend!" Keiara heard Sam hiss. _

_Keiara stopped in place and turned around to see Sam halfway out of his car, leaning over. It almost looked like he was talking to it. _

"_Sam," Keiara called to him. Sam looked up and blushed slightly. _

"_Uh, yes?" _

"_Thanks," Keiara thanked before turning back to her now advancing boyfriend. _

"_Should I be worried," her boyfriend teased. _

"_Uh, no," Keiara laughed. "Strange and mysterious is not exactly my type. I know I shouldn't complain, Mikaela's been with some pretty bad guys before and Sam is a definite upgrade in the character department, but still there is something really strange about Sam Witwicky." _

"So do you talk through the radio songs too?" Keiara asked her voice a tad bit sharp from the memory of Sam's Camaro.

"I speak quite clearly without such a mechanism," the car replied. "That is more of Bumblebee's style."

"Bumblebee?" Keiara asked. "Is that Sam's Camaro."

"Yes that is the form that Bumblebee takes," the car answered.

"Great, a name to the face—or car. So Sam's Camaro is a giant robot. Does Mikaela know about this?"

"She is one-hundred percent aware of this," the car answered.

"Fantastic," Keiara groaned. "So what _exactly_ are you?"

"I am an Autonomous Robotic Organisms and I, as well as my counterparts, hail from the planet Cybertron."

"Cyberton?" Keiara laughed. "What is this some stupid prank? Cybertron? What do you play video games all day?"

"I am not acquainted well with human sarcasm or humor, but I must say that was by no means _humorous._"

"Okay, Mr. Smartass," Keiara snapped venom slipping into her voice. "What do you want?"

"I would like nothing more than to go home," the car replied.

"Home?" Keiara asked startled by the response. "Why don't you just go?"

"Because it is destroyed. It was destroyed years ago when my planet was consumed in our fight for the All-Spark. That same war was brought here nearly ten years ago beginning with the battle at Mission City."

"Mission City? I remember that. They said it was some robot company—"

"I assure you, there is no robotic firm on Earth that could have created a catosphere that compares to Mission City," the car replied.

"What's your name?" Keiara asked slowly.

"I am called Bluestreak," he replied.

"Bluestreak, nice to meet you," Keiara answered. "I'm Keiara Reid. So Blue, are your days always this eventful?"

"The war has been a difficult time," Bluestreak replied. "And these new enemies will not make the times easier."

"New enemies?" Keiara asked. "Wait, so the lady, back there—the alien one—she isn't who you usually destroy buildings with?"

"No, that was an undefined Amnabot."

"What is an Amnabot?"

"They are a species much like your own race and similar to mine. They have a porcelain skin on their exterior which allows them to take the appearance of a human. However, they have the ability to transform—like we transform into automobiles—into arms and weapons.

"So they're like a walking G.I. Joe," Keiara concluded. "_Fantastic. _Let me guess, there's no way to kill these things too, right?"

"They are connected in smaller groups by a single spark. It's more or less our heart. If you can kill the spark of the head of an Amnabot family you have destroyed nearly twenty of their party."

"But it'll take forever to do it that way," Keiara complained. "Isn't there something faster? More efficient?"

"That is why I am here," Bluestreak answered. "I have been order by my commanding officer to seek out a missing Autobot."

"What's its name?" Keiara asked.

"_His _name, I am not aware of," Bluestreak replied. "But I doubt that Optimus would give this assignment if it were not important. He insisted that I leave immediately and at all cost convince this lost solider to join our ranks. Prime believes that he will help lead us to a victory."

"He must know something about the Amnabots," Keiara concluded.

"Indeed, he must," Bluestreak agreed. "We are approaching the hotel again, Mrs. Reid."

Keiara looked up. She hadn't noticed that the Autobot had made a loop back from her starting point. She could see the hotel glowing in the lights before her.

"Actually, could you not?" Keiara asked. "I mean I'm sure you'll need help find this lost solider of yours. I want to help find Mikaela and I won't get any closer locked away in that hotel."

"I'm sure Sam only put you there for your protection."

"Sam? How do you know it was him?" Keiara asked.

"I recognized the government disguises and vehicles," Bluestreak replied.

"Well at least I know who to kill," Keiara mumbled.

"Again, I am sure it was nothing personal. Only for your protection."

"I'm a tough girl, I can handle it," Keiara promised.

"As you wish then."

"Bluestreak?" Keiara asked as they drove past the hotel. "Where exactly are we going to find this lost solider of yours?"

The CD compartment opened and revealed a GPS system which stretched out towards her. The screen lifted itself up in a vertical position and Keiara could see that it was a map, with the destination in bright red written in a language she had never set her eyes on. She tapped the screen lightly and the image instantly zoomed in at her touch. The magnification also reviled a picture of the destination. It was old house—fairly furnished on the side of a road. It looked oddly familiar although, Keiara wasn't sure where she had seen it before.

"If you can translate this into English," Keiara said slowly, "I think I can help you find this place."

"How do you plan on that?"

"I'm a real estate agent Bluestreak. Finding houses is my profession."

* * *

As always thank you for reviewing. They really truly mean a lot to me. Thank you for tunning in for the lastet installement and please do not forget to review!

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any part of the Transformers franchise.

* * *

Chapter 21

The guard pulled her head back up for the umpteenth time from the cold water below. In this small second, she faintly remembered scolding her boss about overworking himself and doing too much.

"_Seriously Sam," she had snapped. "You need a vacation."_

"_Too expensive," Sam replied. _

_Joan rolled her eyes, "Then how about some damn water or that too expensive too? There's no harm form a little H20." _

Unless you where in her current situation.

_No harm from a little H2O my ass, _Joan thought bitterly as the torture method continued. Several men surrounded her, holding her body still as one man forced her head into a bucket of water, and right before all of her oxygen would leave her he pulled her back up again.

"That's enough," a cool voice intervened. "I want to give our guest some time to rest."

The guards pulled up a hard wooden chair and sat Joan in it. They took thick ropes and bound her hands behind the chair and her ankles to each leg. Her eyes were still burly from the water which must have been mixed with chlorine and some other acid, so she couldn't see the woman in front of her, but she had a good idea of who it was.

"Are you comfortable Joan? Can I get you something," the female laughed. "How about some _water_?"

Joan had to fight back her original slick response and instead replied, "Lemonade will actually do better."

"Y'know, I like you," the female continued. "You're not afraid to run around and get dirty with the big bad boys. You're strong, sarcastic and self-dependent. But I think it's that little brain of yours that is going to get you into trouble."

The female reached over and grabbed Joan's skull between her hands. She increased pressure, until Joan's body began to shake and she could hear her eyes ringing.

"Do you want me to stop?" the female asked politely, applying more pressure.

Joan bit her lip trying not to give this woman—no this bitch—the satisfaction of her pain. She tried to think of other things, like Epps. She tried to think about those random Tuesday night barbeques he would prepare when he wasn't on duty. She tried to remember how they'd lounge around her apartment, watching old scary movies or whisper their love for the other. She tried to…

The woman increased her pressure again until Joan couldn't handle it and a shriek of pain slipped from her lips.

"I'll take that as a yes," the woman smirked. "Now tell me where Optimus Prime is."

"For the last time," Joan answered breathless. "I don't know."

The woman's hand stuck her face forcefully and Joan could feel a slight trickle of blood moving down the left side of her face.

"Are you sure about that, Davis?" the woman asked. "I'd hate to have to visit little Annabelle just because you were so numb—"

"Ceke," a voice from outside interrupted. "They're here."

Ceke frowned before grabbing Joan's face again. "I'll be right back princess."

Joan groaned and pressed her mind for ways to leave this prison. There was a war that was approaching; she knew that well, and staying here as some hostage was—

"Jo?"

It was the quiet, innocent voice that could only belong to a small child and sure enough when Joan looked up, Annabelle Lennox came into her blurry vision. And as quick as she came, she disappeared behind her, untying the ropes.

"Anna, how did you get out of there?" Joan asked softly.

"I'm small. I can fit through the bars," the young child explained. "And when all the guards left, I thought it would be the right time. Can we leave now? Can we? Can we?"

When Anna got the ropes off of her hands, Joan quickly attended to her ankles. When completely free, she picked Anna up and peaked out the door. The hallway was completely clear, but to be safe, Joan tiptoed quietly and quickly trying to stay by the shadows. They had made it not three doors down when she heard boisterous laughter.

"And she thinks she's slick!"

Joan's blood ran could and she turned to see who had caught her creeping down the hall. But there was no one behind her. Across from her was a door slightly ajar. Joan quickly leaped from eyesight but continued to listen to Ceke's men.

"I personally can't wait until the final blow. The alliance can't last much longer. Ceke is learning too much, she'll be too powerful."

"No arguing with the truth," another grumbled. "I'm not too sure who would be more worthy to serve."

"Yoko," the first replied. "She has Mare."

"Ah, but Ceke has Viral."

"They're almost done," a third interjected. "She didn't tell them about Optimus."

"It's our problem now," the second replied. "Ceke will want this under wraps. If Yoko hears of it…"

Bitter laughter followed his response.

"And what of our rewards?" the third asked. "Have either spoken of the…"

"No," the first cut over. "But hopefully our clients are _very _generous. They have to have some sort of wealth to attract Yoko's attention, so surely there must be enough wealth to go around."

"Surely Viral will be satisfied," the second laughed. "By the time we are done with the humans he'll have enough meals to feed him for weeks!"

Joan's breath stopped and she put Annabelle down on the cold floor.

"Go back to the cell," Joan mouthed.

"But," Annabelle began to protest. Joan put a finger to Anna's mouth and pointed down the hall. The child frowned but complied racing back down. Joan spared one more look into the room before running back to interrogation room—where Ceke was already waiting.

"You're not that slick," Ceke smiled.

"Neither are your men," Joan replied.

Ceke laughed bitterly, "Very cute."

In the seconds to come, Ceke's hand caught a tight, menacing grasp around Joan's neck and threw her across the room. The woman had more strength that her thin appearance provided, as the single throw had enough force to collide Joan with the back end of the wooden chair.

Blood was now running furiously down Joan's arm as she struggled to move and settled for leaning against the stone walls.

"Y'know I don't know why you're doing this, who your client is, but that doesn't really matter," Joan began. "What I do know is that I am going to find out what's going on here, I am going to get word out to the others, and we are going kill you. You've got a lot to learn about humans Ceke, especially that little thing called morale."

"Of course," Ceke replied crouching in front of Joan. "I hope in the future I won't be so stubborn. You got in that little spat with your friend because you knew I would be watching. And you figured I would want someone to lead Sam here, so the minute one of you was separated in morale, I could come in and pounce. Because I'm sure that I wouldn't catch Mikaela scurrying down these halls."

Joan spit blood from her mouth in Ceke's face. "Bingo."

Ceke wiped her face and with the same hand, retaliated against Joan.

"Was that supposed to _hurt_?" Joan asked mockingly, despite the fact that the left side of her face ached in pain.

Ceke laughed and stood back up. "What you didn't take account for silly little human, is that if Mikaela can reach Sam and tell him the truth that means they'll never come back for you. But of course that won't happen, because Sam will still want to come, want to fight. The poor boy never knows when to stop, does he? I've been watching him a long time. I know he's coming and when he does, it'll be his last."

Ceke left Joan there, bleeding on the floor headed for the door. But before she had left Joan came back with another reply, "You seem to have this all figured out Ceke, your idea of humans and how they work. You've even got yourself a little plan to kill us all and then after that I suppose you'll probably try to overthrow your boss. Good luck with that by the way, I hear team morale is down on your side. But tell me, what happens when Optimus comes back? Because we both know you have no idea where he is, and that he Ace of Spades in this game. So tell me, Ceke, what happens when we come back and win?"

Ceke didn't turn around, but Joan knew from her stiff position that she had heard every word that she said, and she knew that there was doubt.

"Dunk her," Ceke ordered exiting the room. The four guardsmen reappeared, advancing towards her with sick and sinister smiles.

"Exactly what I thought," Joan said, before the torture commenced once again.

* * *

Thank you for all of the previous reviews, they really are amazing to read. And hopefully you all are as excited about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as I am. (Can you say midnight showing at the IMAX? lol =) In other news, I will be leaving this summr and I'm not sure how much internet access will be avaliable, so I can't gaurentee an update any time soon. (Sorry). The earliest I'll have a computer is late July and I come back home in early August, so hopefully around then I'll have plenty to tell. As always, thank you for reading please don't forget to review!

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Transformers franchise.

* * *

Chapter 22

_No matter what face you put on, _Mikaela thought quietly to herself, _it doesn't change the facts. You're just too late. _

Rejection seemed to swallow her throat and she knew that if she looked down long enough, gravity would help relinquish her tears and agony. Mikaela was never a girl afraid to cry, but knowing that an alien robot and his companion were still in hearing distance kept Mikaela quiet. She crept down the plateau, around the halfway point where everyone had made camp for the night.

Her tent was isolated from the others, far on the edge and would serve perfectly for a night of silent tears, but it forced her to creep through all the others avoiding potential curious stares and glances. Thankfully, by the time she had reached the camp, most of the fires were out and people had retreated to bed. The only tent alight was the one closest to her own, Epps' tent.

"This is much bigger than a simple rescue mission, and you know it," Lennox was arguing. "We have to get back to the Pentagon."

"Every second we sit around here, wasting time, is a second lost in fight to get Joan and Anna back," Epps snapped back. "We've waited six days to get nowhere! I can't wait much longer."

"And you think I want to wait longer too? Robert, that's my _daughter _in case you've forgotten," Lennox growled.

Neither of them said anything for a moment, letting their anger fill the talking capacity.

"Mikaela said that she was able to escape," Lennox began after a moment. "She can help lead us to these Amnabots and on the way we need to get into radio contact with the Pentagon. We'll do an airstrike and move in on them."

Mikaela rose from her eavesdropping, chilled by a thought from Ceke.

_When you've got Sam, you'll have all you need to find us. _

"All I need," Mikaela mumbled. Her hands flew to her bag, which she had been lugging around with her. She backed from Epps' tent to examine what was inside. Nothing looked too out of the norm, just her lip-gloss, cell phone, wallet and….

"What is that?" Epps thundered behind her, before snatching it.

"I-I don't know," Mikaela answered truthfully. Lennox came behind the pair and examined the object more closely.

At first glance it looked like an out of portioned wooden cross. The top tip was extremely narrow, leaving the body of the cross to widen out before narrowing slightly again. The entire cross was covered was small, unreadable inscriptions that met in the center and formed a symbol that none of them could decipher.

"That's not Cybertroian," Lennox said running his hand lightly over the cross. Upon contact he instantly jerked his hand away, and even Mikaela and Epps could hear the sizzle skin being burned. The object fell instantly to the ground.

"Don't touch it," Lennox ordered when Mikaela went to reach for it. "It must be skin sensitive or something."

"…_you'll have all you need..."_

Ceke's words clicked again in the back of head. Of course the cross had rejected Lennox's touch, it wasn't his.

Mikaela ignored Lennox's warning and picked up the cross with no complaint. Her left hand wrapped securely around the narrow end of the cross and she set her thumb close to the center. As she unconsciously rubbed her thumb backwards, the thicker end of the cross seemed to open up. As if it were layered with plates, the top layer of wood rose from the bottom end of the cross revealing a narrow pointer with decorative spikes connected to the main pointer at its base. Repeating the action, a source of light began to build from inside the cross and expanded in front of them into a globe, where there were two red pointers alight both in America's northeast. Both men stood behind her flabbergasted.

"How—what—….?"

"What the fu—"

"I don't know," Mikaela lied.

"Where did you find it?" Lennox asked trying to get a better look at it without touching the device.

"I was just looking through my things and I found this," Mikaela explained.

"Really?" Epps asked shortly. Mikaela was taken slightly aback by the tone, but also noticed that Epps was giving her an odd, suspicious look.

"This thing is crazy," Lennox mumbled to himself, not paying any mind to Epps.

"I think that's us," Epps interjected pointing to the globe of the earth. "Those red dots are both in the Northeast, and we've barely left Pennsylvania."

"I think you're right," Lennox agreed. "Which means the enemy isn't too far from where we are. Closer than the Pentagon. I'll go get Ratchet and see if we can get some radio contact with them. I'll be back in a minute."

He, then turned form them and ran off deep into the camp in search of Ratchet.

With Lennox gone, Mikaela turned her attention to trying to close the alien GPS system. She tried closing the plates, but they were hard as stiff and the pointer was much too sharp to push back manually. Remembering her thumb, she gently pushed it backwards, but nothing happened. She tried the action again with a little more force, until she heard a loud clicking noise. At the sound of that clicking noise, everything did retreat.

"That's quiet the piece of equipment that you stole…?" Epps asked, crossing his arms and turning on a full glare.

"I didn't know it was in my bag," Mikaela said, putting the object back.

"The bag that you got before you escaped, right?" Epps continued.

"I stole it back," Mikaela answered.

"That's funny because if I had the opportunity to run from a prison, my little purse would not be the top priority. More like something along the lines of _making it out alive_!"

"Well I'm sorry that we're not all on military training," Mikaela snapped. "But I knew that if I could get to my bag, I could get in contact with Sam. My phone is in here."

"So why didn't you use it" Epps asked, "when you 'escaped'? What happened, Mikaela?"

"Heat exhaustion," Mikaela fired back."I collapsed on the side of the road until some stranger picked me up and dropped me off at a motel. By the time I woke up the phone was dead."

"Even if that was true, the _average American's _number one priorty would be the phone. Fuck the purse! And heat exhaustion or not, they still would have tried to call!"

"You know what Epps," Mikaela growled, "I'm not going to try to sell you my story—"

"Yeah because it's a load of crap," he cut in.

"—If you don't want to believe me that's your own problem. I'm sorry that this wasn't the five second, natural instinct plan that you army men come up with. I'm sorry that Joan and I had time to help plan my escape!"

"Joan?" Epps said flatly. "Joan helped you escape."

"Of course! You think I did this by myself?"

"No, I don't. Not at all, but answer me this: Why you? Why didn't Joan go herself? She's faster, smarter, has more connections. If she had done it, we would have found them quicker and this would have all been over."

"You don't know that," Mikaela answered, but she knew it would never hold him off. Taking on Epps was more than what she had expected.

"Bullshit! You know it's true," Epps snapped, grinning slightly. "So tell me Mikaela why you?"

"Anna wanted her to stay," Mikaela tried. "She knows Joan better, she's more—"

"Lies!" Epps thundered. "Anna would never be so selfish. She would trust Jo's word and do as she was told. I would know. I helped raise her!"

"You weren't there—"

"Oh, don't give me that shit!—"

"What the hell," Sam snapped coming towards them. He and Bee had finally left the plateau. "What is going on here?"

"Your little girlfriend has some secrets for us and I just wanted to know them," Epps replied smoothly.

"Secrets?"

Will was now back, with Sarah at his side.

"I don't have any secrets," Mikaela defended.

"Then why are you backing away from me Mikaela?" Epps sang darkly. Sure enough there was increasing space between the two.

"Because you're _attacking _me!"

"No, I'm not—"

"Yes, you are," Sam cut in. "Back off of her Epps."

"It's been a long night," Sarah added. "How about we just talk about this civilly in the morning?"

"No, I want to know right now," Epps sneered.

"You've got it twisted in your head that there's something to know, when there's not Epps," Mikaela argued.

"So it's just my imagination that you come by the week that everyone is either getting abducted or killed? It's just my imagination that **you **were the only one who could touch that cross? And you want to know why? Because it's yours! That's how you knew to touch it, even when Lennox told you not to. This thing was made just for you, because you were the bait. No one would expect pretty little Mikaela to come back and drag us all to hell—"

"SHUT UP!" Sam roared grabbing Epps by his collar.

"SHE'S FUCKING WITH US ALL!" Epps yelled back.

"Mikaela," Sarah said softly, amidst the boy's yelling. "Mikaela?"

She was looking for a confirmation; a sign to know who was right and who was wrong. Mikaela knew this, she had expected this, but her body seemed to freeze and no emotion seemed to pass through.

"Mikaela!" Lennox demanded.

Sam had now stopped trying to shake Epps and turned his head back to his silent ex-girlfriend. She wasn't looking at any of them and her arms were wrapped tightly around her body, as if trying to keep herself together.

"Mick," Sam addressed her softly.

At the sweet sound of his voice, Mikaela couldn't stop herself from looking up. Tears were starting to build in her eyes and she knew that she was now wearing the look of guilt.

"No.." Sam said backing away from her.

"I wasn't going to, Sam I swear. I was—"

"—still going to lead us there," Lennox cut over her. "To be annihilated!"

"No!" Mikaela argued. "I wanted to fight back. I am fighting back!"

"No, Mikaela," Sam disagreed. "You're fighting for them, not against them."

"Sam that's ridiculous! That isn't me, and you know it!" Mikaela cried.

"I don't know who you are anymore," Sam said. "It's been ten years Mikaela. Things obviously have changed."

"Some things don't!" Mikaela argued grabbing on to his shoulder. Sam instantly pushed her off.

"Sam, please, I still lov—"

"GET OUT!" Sam thundered.

Tears ran furiously down her eyes as the last of the relationship fizzled into the darkness. They were now strangers to each other.

"Sam," she begged softly, "please."

"If you love me so got damn much, then get the hell out of here, fly your ass back to Tranquility, or where ever the hell you came from and stay the **fuck **out of our way," Sam snapped before turning his back on her and storming back up the Plateau.

Lennox, Epps, and Graham, who had arrived sometime in the midst of the fighting, made no room for Mikaela to follow her, but instead stood like the Berlin Wall—denying her of everything that she wanted.

Brokenhearted, alone and defeated, Mikaela took the only route allowed to her and slowly disappeared amongst the trees.

* * *

Thank you for reading and please do not forget to review!

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any part of the Transformers franchise.

* * *

Chapter 23

Bluestreak's GPS system lead them far from the lush vegetation to a much more drier and arid region.

"According to the GPS, we shouldn't be too far from the location of this lost solider. What should I be looking for?" Keiara asked, leaning out of the window.

"I would suspect a very old vehicle," Bluestreak replied. "Although I am not sure of the specifics. Nevertheless, we should arrive to our destination in 2 minutes and 33 seconds."

_Talk about efficiency, _Keiara thought lightly.

The ride to their destination had been surprisingly pleasant for Keiara—well as pleasant as it can be in this sort of situation—however the awkwardness of being inside of an alien robot (and wondering physically _where _she was in this alien robot) had disappeared after a few short hours. They both, after all, shared a very common and important goal: to return home.

Before the two minutes and thirty-three seconds were up, a small house was visible in the lifeless terrain.

"My data indicates that our destination is that house," Bluestreak announced.

"But I thought we were looking for a car?" Keiara asked. "Can your species transform into homes as well?"

"I was not under such impression that we can."

"Well, there is a garage," Keiara reasoned. "Perhaps this guy is in there."

"I would agree with such sensible logic," Bluestreak answered, "but I have scanned the layout of the house. The garage is located separately from the main home, .4 miles away. The coordinates specifically comply with the exact center of the home."

"Well, not everyone is perfect," Keiara said. "Perhaps, there's a malfunction in the data or the coordinates are wrong."

"That is a possibility," Bluestreak admitted. "What I think would be best is if you proceed into the home and examine where the exact coordinates lead you."

"By myself?" Keiara asked.

The GPS system revealed itself again from Bluestreak's center compartment, disconnected itself from the lever that pushed it out, and fell into Keiara's lap. She picked up the system and tapped the screen lightly.

Bluestreak finally answered her—his voice coming from the GPS system itself.

"Certainly not."

The house was a small wooden home that apprehensively showed its age. The steps creaked wildly at slightest weight and the door groaned open with a gentle touch. Inside, dust clogged the air, and the furniture sat like still life from the 1970's. The entire interior looked as if it hadn't been touched, let alone refurbished, since she was born. Bluestreak's GPS beeped quietly in the silent house directing her left into the kitchen.

The kitchen fit the décor of the rest of the house. Wood was surrounded everywhere—the floor the table, the chairs, the countertops— and of course there was the iconic paper walls on the edges of the kitchen and the brown tile backsplash. The GPS beeped until Keiara found herself slightly to the left of the kitchen table. She looked below her and saw nothing but the wooden floor. There were no distinguishable patterns carved into the wood. In fact it was all smooth, expect for an odd round like scratch that was made into one of the planks.

"Blue," Keiara called into the speaker of the GPS. "There's nothing here."

"Are you sure?" Blue answered. "I checked the garage, I was quite unsuccessful."

"Positive," Keiara replied. "I didn't see—shit!"

A small little spider—well it looked like a spider—had scurried around while Keiara wasn't looking and gently bit at her leg.

"What is it?" Bluestreak asked.

"It's nothing Blue, just a little spider," Keiara replied.

Keiara's eyes fell on the tiny creature like a hawk and proceeded to stomp around the room, trying to kill it, until she finally caught the tiny critter beneath her shoe—but it did more damage to her, than she did to it.

"Shit!" Keiara swore loudly, hopping on one foot. She observed the bottom of her shoe to see that the sole of her ked and a round imprint from where she had tried to step on the insect. Keiara looked back down to examine the running critter more carefully. It wasn't a spider. Although it resembled one with its round body, there was no head, and only for tiny little legs. The critter scurried around the kitchen floor for a moment before it situated itself in the wood planks on the floor, right in the odd round scratch that she had barely noticed earlier.

"Keiara? Keiara come in," Bluestreak called from the GPS.

Keiara ignored him and leaned down to touch the little critter, and just as her forefinger gently pushed on its smooth, round surface, a large growl interrupted the silence. The surface beneath her began to shake violently, and as she backed into the wall, Keiara could see the kitchen wall directly across from the table, rip open and a very large, and very alien robot cannon arm, emerge and fire.

"Blue!" Keiara yelled as she to the front door. The kitchen was demolished in seconds, and the rest of the house quickly following it. The heat of the sun met her before she was able to open the front door, and Keiara turned quickly behind her to see that this new, taller and much angrier robot and torn the roof off of the house.

Outside, Bluestreak was already transformed and armed, but upon taking site of the attacker, put his guns away, and watched as the rest of the house was demolished with Keiara safely behind him.

"Please, Magnus," Bluestreak began, "save your anger. We do not trespass will ill-fated hearts."

"You're trying to play civil _now?_" Keiara hissed.

"Keiara, I would like to introduce you to Ultra Magnus," Bluestreak said calmly.

"This is who Optimus asked us to find?" Keiara asked apprehensively. She had for some reason thought that their lost solider would be a tad bit _nicer_.

"Optimus?" Magnus asked quietly, before his eyes glinted dangerously and he yelled, "PRIME!"

"Magnus, please," Blue continued. "Put your anger behind you, there is much at stake."

"Tell _Optimus," _Magnus spat, "that he can find his help elsewhere."

"Magnus, I am aware of certain incidents—"

"I will not hear the words of workers of Prime. Be gone from my sight!" Magnus roared.

"Blue, I think it's time we leave," Keiara insisted quietly. "Big boy is not very happy this morning."

"The decepticons have destroyed Cybertron," Bluestreak said. "That is why I am here."

The older robot glared at Bluestreak and Keiara before laughing bitterly.

"Then it is a burden that Optimus will have to bear," he growled.

"But should he bear it alone?" Bluestreak objected. "After all, Cybertron was not only Optimus' home."

"**He **is the one who betrayed me," Magnus growled. "Not the other way around. It is his fault, and his alone that Cybertron was taken over by those decepticon scum."

"I cannot account for Optimus' mistakes, but we cannot let the decepticons over run the last refugee our species may have," Bluestreak urged.

Magnus' face scrunched into an angry frown and he took his glare from Bluestreak and down closer to Keiara.

"And who are you?"

Keiara stepped forward and away from the shade and protection that Bluestreak provided.

"Keiara Reid," she answered.

"So these things talk, do they?" Magnus frowned.

"Hey, now," Keiara fired back. "I don't call you a thing; you don't call me a thing. You may be taller than the Sears tower, but that doesn't mean that I still can't kick you back into your rightful place."

"Quite a smart tongue for a sparkling," Magnus noted standing up right again.

"Sparkling?" Keiara asked.

"It is roughly a child in human terms," Bluestreak answered.

"_Excuse you?" _Keiara snapped towards Magnus advancing towards the 60 foot robot. "Who are you calling a child you—"

"Magnus," Bluestreak cut over her, "please there is little time. The war is indeed upon us and it is time that we begin to rewrite our wrongs."

Ultra Magnus stood in the sun, his face masked with uncertainty and anger. It was several moments before he put his guns away and relaxed his position.

"Alright, Bluestreak," Magnus said slowly. "You have my attention."

* * *

Yes, this story is not going to be abandoned. I've been on vacation and had some trouble with finding the will to write. I can't promise consistent updating (like my old weekly updating) until September (sorry). But until then, I will try to update as much as possible. I hope you forgive me for the delay, there is much more to come, I promise and over the horizon, the end is coming. ;) Anyway, I hope you all are in enjoying your summer! Tomorrow is actually my birthday, =). Thank you for your reviews, and please keep reading and reviewing!

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any part of the Transformers franchise.

* * *

Chapter 24

The dew lay peacefully on the leaves surrounding Mikaela's curled up body. She had slept amongst the earth that night, shivering with a broken heart and spirit. Heavy footsteps approached the slumbering girl, and woke her up roughly.

Mikaela turned over slowly to see Graham starring down at her.

"Wake up, Mikaela," he stated. "I need the key."

"Key?" she asked groggily sitting up.

"Listen Mikaela, my number one priority is to find and save Anna and Ms. Joan," Graham stated. "Then deal with these new robots."

Memories of the night before flooded into Mikaela's mind and her hand reached out to her bag where the key rested and she held on to it protectively.

Graham sighed and kneeled down to her. "Mikaela, innocent or guilty—"

"Which one do you think?" Mikaela snapped.

"—that doesn't matter. But whether you're innocent or guilty, if you really were trying to do something for Sam, you'd give me those keys. Because we both know what his priority is too."

Mikaela sighed in defeat and opened up the bag. She had thrown the key in there as she journeyed down farther on the slope late last night. She dug around for it, but couldn't find the odd shaped cross anywhere.

"It's not here," she hissed surprised.

"What?"

Mikaela poured everything out of the bag and together with Graham's help they looked for the object of desire, but neither could find it.

Graham groaned then stood up. "Alright, up Mikaela," he snapped. "Arms out and legs spread out."

Mikaela did as asked and he proceeded to check her for the GPS device, with no avail.

Graham swore, before picking up his radio and calling in, "Lennox come in."

"Hello?" Sarah Lennox answered.

"Sarah, I'm glad it's you," Graham replied. "I need you to come down to the bottom of the slope. It's a bit of an emergency."

"You better not be hiding this thing, Banes," Graham warned. "It won't be pretty if you are."

"What's going on down here?" Sarah asked when she arrived several moments later.

"The key is missing," Graham explained.

A dark look cast of Sarah's face as she advanced on Mikaela. "You had better not be behind this, Mikaela Banes, or so help me God, I will rip you bit by bit."

"I didn't do anything," Mikaela swore. "It was taken **from** me."

"Are these the things in your bag?" Sarah asked pointing to the mess on the earth's ground. Mikaela nodded.

"And did you check her Graham?" Sarah asked as she looked through Mikaela's things and the pockets in her bag.

"Yeah, I didn't find anything," Graham replied. "Do you want to tell Epps or should I?"

"Hold that thought," Sarah suggested. "Let's try looking in the immediate area. Maybe it slipped out during the night."

They all searched around the leaves and nearby trees for a good ten, fifteen minutes before joining back defeated.

"Let's back trace," Sarah recommended. "We're going to have to take you up that way, if we can't find it. You said you put it in the bag on your way down last night, Mikaela?"

"Yeah, as I was coming down I threw it in the bag," Mikaela confirmed.

"Maybe you missed or something," Graham said. "Come one, lead us the way."

They back traced the exact way Mikaela came, checking the earth again for any signs of the GPS cross, but found nothing. At the middle ground, Lennox and Epps were loading Ironhide and Ratchet. Mikaela could see Bee distantly behind them and Mud was parked on the far ending by the only tent left standing.

"Will, darling," Sarah began, "we have a bit of a problem."

"What?" Will asked before seeing Mikaela. His frown was instantly back. "What now?"

"The key is gone," Sarah explained.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Epps snapped from Ironhide's cab.

Will marched towards Mikaela, a scowl set on his face. "Where did you put it Mikaela?"

"I didn't do anything to it," Mikaela insisted. "It was taken from me."

"Sure it was," Epps snapped.

"Let me handle this Epps," Lennox interjected. "Now Mikaela, I need you to stop _dicking _around and tell me the fucking truth. Where did you put it?"

"I'm not _dicking _around and I am telling the truth," Mikaela snapped back. "The key was taken from me."

"I knew we should have gotten it, before you went down there," Will mumbled to himself.

"Sam!" Epps roared. "Get over now and make your little girlfriend start talking!"

"What _now_?" Sam snapped at her, emerging from Bumblebee.

Mikaela crossed her arms and frowned, sick of telling the same story repeatedly. "Nothing," she snapped. "I didn't do anything."

"Obviously, you did something, because then we would be able to leave by now," Will snapped.

"Will stop it," Sarah objected.

"No Sarah, this is her fault!"

"And if I even had it, why should I give it to you?" Mikaela snapped. "You would probably just abandon me here anyway!"

"Damn right we would!" Epps and Lennox hollered simultaneously.

"You lost the key!" Sam yelled. "You've got to be shitting me Mikaela!"

"I didn't do anything!" Mikaela screamed. "It was taken from me! I haven't done anything wrong!"

"Bullshit!" Sam hollered back. "You've done everything wrong! You stup—"

Sam's rant was interrupted by a hard cold slap from Sarah.

"That is enough," she growled, gaining all of their attention. "That key, no matter how important it was, is **gone. **And there is nothing that any of us can do about it. Now Mikaela, last night Shockwave informed us of how you two found each other. He remembers the car garage that he was at. We can follow him there and possibly find the hotel that you were staying at. Maybe if we get you in the area we can back trace your steps."

"That isn't going to work," Epps snapped.

"Yes it will," Sarah argued. "It's all there in her head, deep in the subconscious. We just have to find the key to unlock it all."

"We don't have time for any psychology tricks," Will disagreed. "Our number one priority is finding Anna and Joan. Not cracking Mikaela's head open."

Sarah's eyes narrowed as she advanced on her husband. "Don't you dare act like I have my priorities out of order! Anna is the most important thing to me right, even above _you." _

"We do have little options," Graham added.

"Fine then," Will snapped. "Mount up!"

"Mikaela can ride with me," Bumblebee announced.

"No Bee," Sam said approaching his car. "She'll ride with Graham in Ratchet."

However, Bumblebee rejected his demands, locking the car doors.

"Bumblebee!" Sam snapped.

"Mikaela will ride with me," Bee repeated.

"You want to act like that Bee, fine," Sam growled. "Mikaela get over here."

"I'm not some bitch you can just push around, Sam," Mikaela snapped at him,

"No, but you are under investigation by the Pentagon," Sam declared handcuffing her and leading her to Bee.

"I am not a criminal," Mikaela objected as Sam pushed her in.

"Prove it," he snapped before shutting the door close.

"You'll have to excuse him," Bee apologized. "It's been a long day."

"You don't have to talk to me about long days," Mikaela mumbled.

"You know, Mikaela, when you and I first met, I had only just entered Optimus' ranks," Bee began. "And I admit, I wasn't the most dependable. In fact, I'm sure that Prime did everything he could to keep me from the line of battle. I was too clumsy."

Mikaela snorted trying to imagine a fifty foot robot being _clumsy. _

"Maybe that is the incorrect English translation, but I was thrown into stealth so that I would hurt myself in battle."

"Is there a point to this Bee?" Mikaela asked.

"Yes," he insisted. "In my first years, I was quite anxious to prove my loyalty and to impress everyone—which turned out to be a complete disaster. We lost more battles than ever with my antics and there were several times that I overheard both Ironhide _and _Ratchet plead with Optimus to let me stay behind."

"But let me guess," Mikaela droned, "you kept fighting."

"No," Bee said. "I left."

"You left?" Mikaela asked.

"Yes, I truly believed that they were right and that I was not ready for such a responsibility. Optimus insisted that I stay, saying that I was overly anxious, and my moment would come. But I wasn't ready to listen."

"So what happened?" Mikaela asked. "How did you end up back with the Autobots?"

"A troop of Decepticons came into port, destroyed everything that was there, and I was the only one who could hold them off until the rest of the cavalry could come. By the end of it, I was so wounded that I need near full reconstruction. But during that time, Optimus came and visited me. He asked me if the line of fire was all of the glory I expected it to be."

"Was it?"

"No. I didn't fight for glory, I fought for life. And when I told Prime that he smiled and told me that he wanted me to come back and fight with him. Be patient Mikaela, I know there is more to this than what Epps, Lennox and Sam can see. Your moment will come, just be patient."

The cars in front of Bumblebee began to rumble and set off for Ted & Murray's garage. Mikaela made herself comfortable in the car seats and let sleep slowly come back to her.

"Patience is the key."

When she woke again, they were just passing the old garage that Mikaela had bought Shockwave.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Ratchet did research on the area. There's only one hotel in this region, we're approaching it now."

The wooden hotel was the same as Mikaela left it. It possessed a charming small town feel that lifted a bit of Mikaela's spirit. It was nice to be somewhere that felt warm and welcome, but the glares that she still received from Sam and Epps alike, was enough to bring her crashing back down to reality.

"Can I help you?" the clerk at the front desk asked when Mikaela, Sam, Epps and Lennox entered the lobby.

"Yes," Mikaela began. "I was a resident here and I think—"

"Oh yes a package came in for you," the clerk said. "In the back with Sheryl I think."

"Do you mind?" Mikaela asked.

"Not at all," the clerk said allowing her through.

"I'll go with you Mikaela," Epps suggested following her.

The clerk led her to the mail room deep behind the front desk.

"It's the one in the corner," the clerk said before leaving them.

There was a small brown package in the corner with her name written over it.

"Seems like your friends left you a little gift, Mikaela. Did you forget about that too?" Epps snapped.

"Real cute Epps," Mikaela growled opening the box.

They were in luck. Inside of the box was another one of the GPS crosses.

"Perfect," Epps exclaimed snatching the cross.

"Give that back," Mikaela demanded.

"Hell no," Epps glowered. "You tried to lead us to the enemy, you obviously cannot be trusted."

"Epps you have no idea what you're talking about," Mikaela pleaded. "Hand it over."

"Like hell."

Epps ran for the door, with Mikaela hot on his heels, but he reached it first, slammed the door shut, locking her inside of it.

"Epps! Epps! Open the fucking door!" she cried.

"It's what's best for everyone," Epps called from the other side. "The Pentagon will be here tomorrow to pick you up. So make yourself comfortable Mikaela. It's going to be a long ride home."

* * *

Thank you so much for all the reviews. We have offically hit 100! =) And as always, thanks for reading and please don't forget to review!

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any part of the Transformers franchise.

* * *

Chapter 25

"Let's roll out," Epps hollered, exiting the motel with the key in hand, catching up with Will and the others, who were leaning against several Autobots.

"What happened to Mikaela?" Sarah asked.

"She's going to fall behind and wait for the backup," Epps responded smoothly, making his way for Ironhide.

"What?" Sarah snapped.

"Sarah let's just get in," Will suggested.

"Epps what did you do?" Sarah growled accusingly.

"She's going to wait for the Pentagon to come and pick her up," Epps explained evenly.

"Robert!"

"They _want _her," Epps snapped. "She's a criminal! Wanted by the United States Pentagon at that!"

"She is not a criminal," Sam sighed softly. The internal fight of emotions was evident on his face as he tried to let all of this go. "But we don't have time for this. Sarah if you want to make sure that Mikaela is treated justly, stay behind with her. And as for you, Epps," Sam stepped up into the face of a man, whom he had called a friend through ten long and rough years. But Epps was trailing a thin line—friendships be damned. "I want Joan back as much as the next person, and I know it's that crazy love for her that's got you thinking out of your mind, but let me remind you of something: first my wonderful assistant isn't going to be too happy when she hears about this and second, if Mikaela makes it to the Pentagon, with so much as a scratch on her head, _I'll _be the one shoving you up Megatron's rusty ass."

The two men glared long and hard at each other, one waiting for the other's agreement, and the other judging the promise of the threat.

"Epps, Witwicky, if we're going to make a strike against these bastards we need to move now. We don't have time for this," Lennox snapped. Neither man relaxed.

"I mean it you two," Lennox continued walking away from them. "Epps get me the Pentagon on the phone. Witwicky, work that alien magic to get us a location. Autobots, let's roll out!"

* * *

_En route to the Pentagon_

It was quite the sight for Keiara, watching the small Nissan 370Z lead the large and ancient Freightliner Truck that was Ultra Magnus—or perhaps it was the fact that Keiara knew that the two vehicles were two very big alien robots, with even bigger attitudes.

"You know our lost solider isn't as friendly as I imagined," Keiara said softly, looking back in the rearview mirror at the monstrous truck.

"Magnus has endured a long, trying life. He has been fighting just as long as Optimus has."

"Yes, and he has such a _high _opinion of Optimus," Keiara frowned. "What exactly was that all about, Blue?"

Keiara could hear the engine of the car rumble a sigh as Bluestreak began to slow down.

"It is not the best example of Optimus' leadership," Blue began slowly. "Those times were very demanding and until very recently us Autobots have been on the defensive end of this fight. It has been a long war, Keiara."

"Prime and Magnus were fighting on the same side," Blue continued. "His impeccable fighting skills, unmatched courage, and talent of improvisation on the battlefield truly made him the perfect solider. And that was all Magnus wanted to be. He had no interest in commanding. He was simply made to follow. However things were becoming very stressful on our side. We were losing too many forces, too quickly. And in those moments, we all can sometimes lose our senses."

"So what happened? Did Magnus do something wrong?" Keiara asked.

"No, I believe Prime did. There was an attack on one of the older ports, in the West Territory of the planet. Against his will, Magnus led one hundred forces to battle against Megatron."

"Who happens to be--?"

"Leader of the Decepticons," Bluestreak finished. "In my opinion, Megatron in his early years was more lethal than he was now, in what many consider to be his prime. The Decepticon forces were able to destroy nearly all of our comrades, except two: one of course, Magnus and the other, Cosmos, a recon specialist. Something that you must know about Cosmos is that he is one of the few Autobots with the capability to fly."

"What does he transform to?"

"I think many of your people would think of him best as a UFO," Bluestreak explained.

"Are serious?" Keiara exclaimed, but then retracted her expression. _I suppose if robots can change into cars, they can change into alien flying saucers. _

"And while Cosmos enjoys his freedom, he can easily become bored of it—which is what Mr. Adamski witnessed in October of 1946. During this particular ambush, Cosmos had been off duty, returning to our planet and landed on the West Territory, during the battle. He witnessed what he claimed to be, Magnus aiding Megatron in destroying Autobot allies. Naturally his claim did not sit well with Prime or any of the elders. Magnus defended himself, declaring on his soul that he did not, and would never destroy his own comrades, but with such intense pressure beating on him, Optimus fell into the favor of the elders and dismissed Magnus from our ranks."

"Dismissed him?"

"Originally the elders wanted Prime to destroy him, but Optimus could not destroy a brother, so he decided to banish him. This did not sit well with Magnus, who had fought many long years beside Prime and had expected him to stand up for him. He left willingly, but with a cold spirit, vowing never to aid the Autobots. And it seems that he, like many of us, found refugee on this planet."

"So what does Prime want with Magnus now?" Keiara asked. "He must know that he won't be too willing to help."

"Those were my beliefs as well," Bluestreak answered. "But nonetheless, he is following us to the Pentagon. He has agreed to listen, and possibly aid us. And while he may never officially be an Autobot ever again, Magnus would never fight with the Decepticons. That much I am certain."

"So when we arrive in D.C. Prime should be waiting for us?"

"That is my hope, Keiara, that is my hope."

* * *

"_Seriously Mikaela, what is going on?" _

_Her hands were laced together covering Sam's vision, as she walked him across the gravel. He tried sniffing the air to get a better sense of where he was, but when all he could smell was oil, Sam became quite confused. This area was rather open to be a garage, and why was there no concrete? _

"_Just be patient, Sam," Mikaela sang. "And stop trying to figure out where we are." _

"_Bee a little help here," Sam called out to his car, only a few feet away. _

_Mikaela went to swing at Sam playfully, but in the instant that she dropped her right hand, Sam ducked out of her grasp and opened his eyes. _

"_Sam!" Mikaela complained. "It's supposed to be a surprise." _

"_This __**is **__a surprise." _

_He stood outside several empty warehouses, surrounded by barbed wire and electric poles. _

"_I can't believe this is still standing," Sam laughed. "I would have thought that Bee and Barricade shred this place into pieces." _

"_I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped-up 4 wheel drive," Bumblebee's radio sang, "Carved my name into his leather seat…"_

_Sam's hearty laugh drowned out the rest of the lyrics. "You were good Bee," Sam agreed. "That fight was pretty badass." _

"_Too bad you spent most of it running form an alien robot smaller than my baby cousin. And who had to save you again?" Mikaela teased. _

_Sam draped an arm around Mikaela's shoulders and brought her close. "Well you know I don't mind role play. You can be Superman, while I could be Lois Lane." _

_Mikaela threw her head back and laughed. "I didn't know you had such a feminine side to you, Witwicky!" _

_Sam only grinned and silenced his girlfriend in a slow, sweet kiss that left Mikaela wanting just a tad bit more. _

"_Tease," she accused lightly. _

"_Guilty as charged." _

"_C'mon, I'll show you the main attraction," Mikaela smiled tugging Sam. _

"_Oh, I think I've already found it," Sam purred brining Mikaela closer…_

"Witwicky!"

Sam jolted upwards, knocking his head against the tree behind him. Several soldiers sat crouched down near him, all gazing at him with suspicious looks.

"Your radio, sir," one said, pointing to the handheld next to Sam.

Sam nodded in thanks and responded into the radio. "This is Witwicky."

"Sam, we're a go," Lennox said. "Are you ready?"

He ought to be ready. It was an excruciating two hours to gain military back up and reach, what the coordinates had suggested to be the Amnabots' base. Not to mention the internal warfare Sam was having over leaving Mikaela in Pennsylvania. Bee had not been very happy with the decision, and Sam knew that he probably should have stopped it, but in a few hours she would be in the trusted hands of the Pentagon. In a few hours Joan and Anna will be safe and cleared. In a few minutes, they were going to barge into the simple evicted warehouse and end this once and for all. In a few hours he could tend to his heart, but right now, his mind had first priority.

"We're ready."

Sam and his team were resting low in bushes near the unsuspecting warehouse. There were a few guards standing outside of the house. They were dressed in civilian clothes with black backpacks but Epps confirmed that with the heat vision binoculars, there were two AK-47s in the bags.

Sam's team consisted of fifteen soldiers, armed and ready, and Barricade, since Bumblebee decided to guard Sarah, who was about ten miles from their location.

"On my signal," Sam ordered.

"You have to admit," one soldier hissed to another, "these guys may fight nasty, but they have no sense of security."

"Silence soldier," Sam barked.

Barricade stood up behind them, rolling out his cannons in preparation for battle before replying darkly, "Oh yes they do."

* * *

As always thank you for reading and please don't forget to review!

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any part of the Transformers franchise.

* * *

Chapter 26

It wouldn't have been the first time a strange took pity on her. Her life lately had been full of pity, people wanting to take care of her and where had it gotten Mikaela Banes?

The same hard cot that she had awoken in so many hours ago.

The hotel clerk felt so bad about Mikaela's recent run in with Epps, that he gave her a free night stay. And while the gesture was kind, there was simply nothing that the small bland bedroom could do for her.

In a way, she supposed she deserved it. After all, karma has an interesting way of coming back to you. It would always be her biggest regret, leaving Sam in that hospital. They had just graduated from high school; Sam would be going to the East Coast for college so they planned a special vacation, just between the two of them, a drive to Arizona, if she remembered right. They weren't even out of California when the assault from the air began. Since it was just Sam and Mick, no Bee since he was en route to D.C. to meet Prime, Starscream was able to swoop down upon them as if they were tiny white mice. She remembered the Doctor, just a tiny little Decepticon, scurrying about quickly and trying to inject a thick, lime green substance into Sam's limp body, but the cavalry arrived before he could finish. She wasn't even sure how Ratchet and Ironhide had found them, but she had never been happier in her life.

But most of all, she remembered the nights waiting for Sam to wake up, the doctors telling them how they weren't sure if he was going to make it. No human had ever been poisoned with raw radiation from Cybertron. There was nothing any of them could do but wait, and she couldn't. She couldn't sit there day and night, watching as doctor after doctor tore him apart with the same conclusion. She lost hope and in essence lost herself.

Mikaela now sat at the edge of the hard bed in her motel room. Night had long fallen upon the small town. Beneath her was a small duffel bag where her purse was stuffed in along with a set of clean clothes which had been generously donated to her. Her mind battled with the option of going home. At least there she would have Keiara, work and a family who cared, instead of the resentment, anger and denial she had dealt with for the past week. Although if Epps was half the man she remembered, Mikaela knew well that it wouldn't be past him to have the government after her when all of this was settled. Or maybe Optimus or Bee would fall pity on her and ask him to let it go.

_Like that's what you need more of, _she thought bitterly. _Pity. _

Mikaela ran a frustrated hand through her locks before slowly getting back up again. She reached for the light, ready to give sleep another try, when she heard the loud rumble of an engine—a very expensive engine. Curious, her ears led her to the window, but there was no car in sight, and just as went to turn from the window, a flash of metallic silver crossed the bushes that she was gazing at. Taken aback, Mikaela squinted harder looking for the silver flash again. She concentrated on a small bush that seemed to shake quickly before becoming very still. And when it rose, Mikaela had only a split second to recognize who it was and run as far from the window as humanly possible.

Yet of course, when you're faced against the feline monster that is Ravage, there is only so much one petty little human can do in a split second.

The decepticon leaped into the air with grace that was admirable and great ferocity, digging one of his paws into her back as he went to strike her.

Mikaela stumbled, but put her balance into gear and she rushed away from the ever approaching Ravage, pushing through several people and racing down stairs, which were soon destroyed behind her. Screams awoke everyone in the small motel as the chase ensued and when Mikaela reached the bottom of the stairs, the small motel clerk, still dressed in his pajamas aimed an AK-47, the kind that could only be found in rural Pennsylvania, and shot at her pursuer.

"Keys!" Mikaela hollered before snatching a pair from an innocent bystander, who was too captivated by the sight behind her to care about his loss.

Mikaela ran around the small parking lot before slipping into a 1974 Range Rover Classic. She threw the car in drive, headed for the nearest highway. It didn't surprise her that after she spent a few moments on the road, she could see her metallic fiend chasing steadily behind her, itching closer every second. Mikaela looked around, trying to find the easiest way to shake him, dodging wildly through cars, but Ravage stayed on her, his scarlet eye glinting dangerously.

It took everything in Mikaela to keep her foot on the gas and steady breaths through her body. Why did this decepticon have to chase her now? Wait—why was this decepticon chasing her?

The last twenty-four hours dawned on her heavily. If Barricade sent a transmission for a temporary truce between the Autobots and the Decepticons, why was Ravage chasing her down for his next meal?

Of course, that is, _if _there was a truce. Would it really be past the Decepticons to pull such charades? Pretend to be on the Autobots side, wanting to destroy the Amnabots, when in actuality they work for the Amnabots—no, the Amnabots must work for them.

Slamming her head against the wheel, Mikaela groaned at her own stupidity. Ironhide had indeed been right—after all, why would you trust in a being that's been trying to kill you since you were sixteen?

Mikaela's epiphany was disrupted by Ravage, who raced ahead of her Range Rover, before turning around and jumping on the hood. He destroyed the windshield in one effortless strike, reaching out to clip her in the face. Mikaela threw the car wildly to the right, driving straight off of the road and colliding roughly with a metal sign. Ravage growled loudly and slipped off the hood, allowing Mikaela to hit the reverse and run into the metal feline several times before she was sure he wasn't planning on getting back up again anytime soon.

"Give my regards to Starscream," Mikaela spat, before driving off, leaving Ravage crumpled against the sign that read 76 miles to Washington D.C.

The bright lights of Arlington greeted Mikaela about a short hour later, as she raced through the streets, in search for the military headquarters.

"Ma'am you cannot enter through here," one of the guards barked at her as she tried to jump the security gate. She paid him no mind, successfully making it over, before running wild to the entry doors. She banged on the doors until one confused Pentagon worked let her through, in mid question.

"Excuse me ma'—"

"I need you to tell me where I can find Secretary Keller or anyone who knows about—"

Her fumbling words were interrupted by the security guard who tackled her roughly to the ground.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" A loud voice exclaimed as the security guard dragged the kicking Mikaela up and out.

"Oh God, not you," Mikaela groaned.

Agent Simmons stood in front of her, with a full blown smirk on his faced, dressed in a sharp black government suit. Standing next to him was a small caramel haired woman, who had a set frown on her face.

"Well well, well if it isn't the criminal girlfriend?" Simmons greeted.

"Criminal girlfriend?" the small woman repeated eyeing Mikaela oddly.

"It's funny you show up now," Simmons continued. "After all, I just got an interesting message from Epps about you."

"Mikaela Banes," the woman concluded, snatching Mikaela from the officer's grip. "You're under arrest for the—"

"You can arrest me after you explain to me why the hell Ravage just chased me down I-270!" Mikaela yelled over her.

"Ravage?" the woman asked.

"The little feline thing?" Simmons clarified. "Are you sure it was N.B.E—"

"Oh what do you think Ironhide clawed at my back and tried to rip open my face?" Mikaela snapped.

The female official swore. "I _told _Witwicky he was out of line."

"What?" Mikaela asked.

"Take her to the holding cell, Cromwell" Simmons suggested. "I'll call for Secretary Keller."

Cromwell tightened her grip on Mikaela wrist as Simmons dismissed the security officer.

"Witwicky, earlier this week made a deal with N.B.E. 04, Barricade, that I informed him was completely out of line," the woman explained taking Mikaela to the nearest elevator.

"The one about the Decepticons aiding the Autobots?" Mikaela asked.

"Exactly," the woman confirmed, "in exchange for Starscream."

"WHAT?"

Mikaela stopped in the middle of the building, her heart along with it. Sam couldn't be _that_ naïve? He had been fighting longer than she had. Surely he would know…

"He insisted that they would play the cat and mouse game anyway, and continued to tell me, that his experience outweighs my ambition," Cromwell continued. "Foster!"

A tall man heading in the opposite direction that the two women were going stopped immediately and approached them. "Yes ma'am?"

"Please escort Ms. Banes to the lower holding cell," Cromwell ordered. "And wait with her until myself, Agent Simmons or Secretary Keller arrives."

"Right away," Foster replied, putting a firm grip on Mikaela's shoulder and leading her to the elevator.

They entered quietly into the small box and Foster swiped his access card before reached out to press one of the many silver buttons. When his hand retracted, Mikaela noticed the cuff of his suit jacket retract slightly, revealing a deep cobalt coding, almost like a tattoo, but more a part of his skin. Her airways clamped shut as she faintly recognized that design.

"It's nice to see you as well, Mikaela," Mare smiled before slamming her head against the elevator door.

* * *

Thank you for reading and please do not forget to review!

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the Transformers franchise.

* * *

Chapter 27

Joan loved her boyfriend. Hell, she even liked her boss, but she'd be damned before admitting that she was remotely happy with them.

"It's not like we _knew _this was going to happen!" Sam hissed at Joan when she wasn't exactly happy to see them.

Not that anyone would be happy to see their "rescuers" locked and chained in the same cell that you were.

"It's the freaking Decepticons!" Joan spat back. "How did you _not _know?"

Sam let the argument go, knowing that she was right. After Barricade's dark warning, Sam had known something was wrong, and sure enough minutes later the guns were being turned on him.

And he, Epps, both of the Lennoxes, and Graham were all stuck in the same jail cell with a very pissed of Joan and Anna.

"What exactly did you promise Barricade, Sam?" Joan snapped.

"Coordinates to where they could find Starscream," Sam mumbled, knowing he was about to get it.

Pure horror first masked Joan's face, before it transformed into deep rage. Will eyed Joan cautiously, knowing how her temper could easily get the best of her. He was quite surprised when she leaned her head back against the wall, muttering to herself and taking several deep breaths.

"You better pray that Ceke kills you first," Joan growled at Sam, refusing to look at him.

Graham let out a large sigh. "So basically, we're screwed."

"Pretty much," Joan continued. "After all, _someone _locked our last hope in freaking motel closet!"

"She cheated us Jo. What did you expect us to do, let her run free?" Epps hissed back.

"No shit Sherlock! How else was she supposed to get out of here alive to find you in first place? Ask nicely?" Joan fired back. "I'm sure that would have gone over real well."

"She should have just told us the truth," Lennox snapped.

"_That _I don't disagree with, but it would have helped if the three of you had actually tried to use your brains! I mean think about it, does Mikaela have the _balls _to pull that off?"

"That's enough," Sarah Lennox softly, but sternly commanded. She sat chained right next to her husband, her daughter sleeping only a few feet down from her in between Epps and Joan.

"Mikaela should have been honest with us," Sarah started. "Epps, you were wrong to lock her into that motel, but Joan, giving us a replay isn't going to help us now. We need to concentrate on how we're going to get out of here."

"There _is _no way out of here," Joan answered. "Plenty of security cameras and personnel and after torture sessions most of your energy is out not to mention, not all of us are skinny enough to get through those bars."

"Some of us are," Graham noted glancing over at the slumbering Ana.

"No," Will and Sarah chorused together.

"Besides," Joan finished. "What would she do when she got out? Ask for the bathroom?"

"Someone has to have a set of keys on them in this place," Sam grumbled.

"Key pad lock on all of the doors," Joan answered. "Three on the exit, with a card scan as well."

"Just great," Sam grumbled. "So now what? We sit here and wait?"

"And pray that Mikaela is quite fortunate in the next few days and makes her way out of that motel and into Washington. If she can connect with Keller maybe she can get us out of here."

"She doesn't remember where this place is," Will sighed. "We only got it because of GPS connections and the Decepticons."

Joan sighed and gazed through the bars that confided her. The hot rage that swept through her earlier was finally cooling. After a moment, her gaze went to Epps, who was still looking away, basking in his own fury.

"Hey," she said softly. His eyes came up slowly and she was able to really look at him since he arrived in the cell.

"Well it's no wonder that you got caught," she teased softly. "You can't except to kill any Decepticons with your shoe laces untied."

A soft rumble of laughter swept the cell.

"Don't know what you're laughing at Witwicky," Graham added, pointing to Sam's untied laces.

"Sam," Joan started keeping her voice surprisingly even, "Making arrangements and deals are in my contract. Next time, let me handle the paperwork."

A slow smile crossed Sam's face.

"What are you smiling about Sam?" Will inquired.

"Joan," Sam grinned. "You're going to love me."

Joan arched a single brow, "Prove it."

* * *

Every bone in her body was on fire as Mikaela struggled to understand her surroundings. What she could feel was a hard cot underneath her and something sticking into her right arm. As she recalled her last moments, her heart stopped at the vision of Mare slamming her head into the table.

"Relax Banes, you're safe now."

The voice was calm and soothing, but Mikaela's body stayed frozen in doubt.

"If you can Mikaela, I need you to open your eyes," the voice repeated.

"Doc, I don't have time for this. I've robotic aliens to kill!" a loud boisterous voice demanded.

Mikaela opened her eyes and reached up as she came into contact with Agent Simmons.

"Easy, Mikaela," the doctor next to her instructed. "You've suffered a harmful concussion."

"Where—where am I?" she chocked, her throat achingly dry.

"Medical center of the Pentagon," Simmons answered. "Don't worry, your little visitor didn't think of security checking the lower floors after he made a bit of a mess clearing the way for his escape—although he still did manage to escape."

"Did he—"

"We're not sure what he did, the security cameras for that elevator have been tampered with. What do you remember?"

"Nothing," Mikaela answered. "Absolutely nothing."

Simmons crossed his arms and frowned. "Now listen, I heard about the forest—"

"Look, I'm not lying to you!" Mikaela snapped. "I'm not hiding anything!"

Simmons continued to frown but he moved to the end of her bed and picked up a small wooden box with alien engravings and placed it in her lap.

"What is this?" Mikaela asked.

"It's a map," Simmons answered, opening the box. A holographic black globe appeared with several 3D smaller globes floating around it. There was one particular red globe that was advancing quickly on the map.

"This is earth," Simmons pointed out, before dragging his finger to the incoming red sphere. "And I was hoping you could tell me what this was."

* * *

I know it's been an extremely long time since I've updated and for that I am sorry, however if you can bear with me there are only a few more chapters left and I really would like to finish this story, especially with the turn of events that has been going on with the movie series, TF 2, Megan Fox etc. As always thank you for reading and please review.

Much Love,

Santiva Potter


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